I think it would be kinda cool if each pet had different attributes for battling. Like lains could be more agile and donadaks could have more defense. When you're battling you could get a random bonus depending on which pet you're using, similar to how the crystals work. If you're using a lain to battle then you would have a 10% chance of getting an agility bonus, if you use a tigrean you would have a 10% chance to get a strength bonus.

We used to have a perk system, but it wasn't tied to species (I forget how it worked, actually). I'd rather see that, or something like it, implemented again, rather than species-specific stuff.

The issue would be that most (if not all) battlers just flock to the species with the most beneficial attribute.

But each would be good for battling a different opponent. Like if I'm battling Nightshade I would want a pet that has more agility. If I'm battling Saggitarius I want a pet with more defense, General Error a pet with more strength.

There wouldn't be a pet with super strength but each pet would have a chance to have like maybe a 5% increase in that attribute for a turn or two

I honestly like the idea. Kinda like Pokemon and types. But unfortunately, the way the system is done, I'd want extra hp in almost every case. Perhaps extra strength on a select few. For the most part agility is useless.

I wouldn't want any pet to get extra hp, like you said people would choose that pet to battle with every time. You're right about that, right now agility is just kinda there for most opponents. There should be some future opponents with greater agility so that it actually makes a difference.

I sort of like the idea but I foresee elixirs skyrocketing in price because people would just buy elixirs to change their pets species to suit whatever opponent they're battling... Wouldn't they?

I think a big problem for implementing a system like this would be that it would be pretty much impossible to balance and some species would have advantages over others. Not to mention that on Neopets, some pet species had their own set of weaknesses and resistances. It was definitely not balanced, with Scorchios and Pteris having the most ideal combinations of resistances (and thus always seeming to be the species of the winners of 2-player battling contests).

I actually like how any pet species will have the same results in battling. It would feel awkward for the need to have a pet become a different species to beat a specific opponent.

I think it's too late in the game for something like this. Pet colors and species have always been an aesthetic choice, and I can't imagine that changing without causing too many complications.

What everyone else said + my only battle pet is an experiment which took months to zap for and it would suck to have to change her for a battle bonus. I like the aesthetic and utility aspects of pets being separate.

I like the general idea of attributes, but I think that it would work much better if they were set up so that we could customize them to our pets as we saw fit. For instance, every pet would be given 1 attribute slot, and it would cost experience points or battle tokens to add one or swap one out.

Another way that it could work is that your pet has an attribute slot, but there are tier-dependent accessories that you have to buy to give your pet an attribute: The lower the tier, the weaker the buffs you can equip. The higher the tier, the stronger the buffs. Nothing that gives over a 20% boost, but still worth considering. The advantage of the item-slot method would be that users would be able to swap out attributes like they do weapons, without feeling like they need to change their pets' species or the side-effect of causing inflation in elixir prices. ^_^

This basically. It's a neat idea, but I think it would be difficult to implement now without people being a bit pissed off. Also how many perks could there possibly be, we have a LOT of pets on site lol.

I don't like the idea as I want to choose my Pets based on their look and not on their battle skills, already disliked that way back on Neopets with I think the Scorchios? Good for battling but ugly as hell, I really don't want that here.

I'm definitely in the NO camp with ,, , and . The species specific limitations/benefits in battle was one of the reasons I left Neopets. I adored Xweetocks but against a Scorchio or suchlike they were pretty useless. I think our Level-stats-tier system here is pretty good as is.

I'll admit, it does sound like a good idea. I've drawn up something similar, i.e. Storm pets being able to resist light icons, Nightmare resisting physical icons.

But it really gets complex, especially when Experiment pets are included (which I forgot about til just reading this thread); also considering our battle opponents all require a unique strategic approach in terms of what's enabled/disabled against them and the icons they dish out. To throw in an attribute system this late in the game, I can't see it happening because of the amount of time involved to balance out the system.

It really is an awesome-sounding idea, I can't fault the OP there. But I think there are other features that most of us want to see implemented coughcoughINDIVIDUAL BATTLESETS PER PETcoughcough