Curse

Fitz Rinley · Dec 13, 2008, 04:44 PM // 16:44

I have been attempting for a long time to level a pet to Elder. It doesnt happen. Getting Dire and Hearty are easy. A dire pet you can death level for. A hearty pet you just add to your skill bar and let it get sloughtered til it reaches level 15 or so. How many elder pets have been actually made in game percentage wise out of our 3,000,000 players. Getting an Elder pet is something you either cap as is or obtain for PvP only characters. And the Five forbid you should actually be interested in a certain pet as an Elder. I am about to give up on that also.

I would like to have an elder raven on my monk. He is named in Finnish and I have an Eye of the North oriented theme for him. Still, I would like his pet (Haamuyolta) to be an Elder Raven. Would anyone else see his title? No. Do I often run around as a monk with a pet? No. Does it have anything to do with showing off? No. Is it strictly for my own entertainment? Yes. I have seen no way to guarantee elder pet evolution. Everyone goes for Dire for better damage or hearty because it is too much of a hassle to do otherwise. Further, there is no way to guage what is going on as you level it. By the time it reaches 11th or 12th level and changes evolution you cant make a difference in it. I know - I have tried. And I would bet that ifinitesimal number of Elder pets among the 3,000,000+ players would be larger if there was a way to at least observe wthqq was going on as you leveled the thing up.

Yeah, I know there is no point in asking NC West for stuff. The known and community wide recognized bugs (spawning issues, escortees not bothering to go to triggers, armor that displays underwear, etc.) aren't worth fixing. I no longer expect them to really care or do anything to make our play more entertaining and less impossible for us. But it would have been nice if the pet evolution process was something you could observe - like in a bar under your experience in the Hero screen.

The bar could be grayed out when not in use (Charm Animal is not on skill bar). The bar could show five division points, or at minimum three. Hearty would be on the left, Elder in the middle, and Dire on the right. The bar could change color to reflect current evolution status as well as being filled left to right according to percentage between Hearty and Dire evolution. While in Hearty range it could show blue. While in Playful range it could show green. For Elder it would be gold. Aggressive would show as orange, and Dire as red. This is if some kind of color change were put in. At least the percent with the cursor over it saying what category it is in would have been helpful.

We have no idea about GW2, but hopefully there will be something better than what we have had with GW. And if they should bother to care, I guess I will level another pet just like the dozen or so I have put in the Emperor's collection to date. And if anyone knows a way to guarantee Elder evolution it sure hasnt made it to wiki.

Gill Halendt · Dec 13, 2008, 07:52 PM // 19:52

You can get a non-evolved pet by levelling it in the Sulfurous Wastes.

Non-evolved pets have the same characteristics as Elder ones, except the name.

I think it's pretty much impossibile to get an Elder pet any other way, unless you tame an Aggressive Lion and have it beaten so hard that by Lv15 he turns into an Elder one...

MithranArkanere · Dec 16, 2008, 06:23 PM // 18:23

Meh. It's illogical having pets like that in Guild Wars.

You can change variable attributes in Armor, you can change variable attributes in Weapons, you can change variable attributes in Characters and Heroes...

Why not in Pets?

Pets now have panels.
Hero panels can appear in Towns even if Heroes themselves not appear (unlike henchmen that must be present to appear in the Party Formation panel and the Party panel).

So, why not just making appear the Pet panel in outposts when the Charm Animal skill is in the Skill Bar, and then replace the three Lock target/Follow/Heel icons with "Aggresive/Elder/Hearty" icons?

MagmaRed · Dec 16, 2008, 09:18 PM // 21:18

Information about trying to get Elder, and how you are able to get Dire/Hearty was useful for your suggestion. However, the info about what kind of pet, the name, etc. was all superfluous, and detracts from your suggestion. I almost stopped reading because I thought it was going to be a complaint instead of a suggestion.

A meter to indicate HOW the pet was evolving wouldn't be too bad. Wouldn't appreciate a change to what was needed, but just an indicator wouldn't be a bad thing. I'm not sure how the game determines it, but it may not be a simple thing. I imagine it to be black and white with no gray in between. In other words, it isn't part aggressive, it just turns aggressive at the appropriate level. If that is the case, your meter idea wouldn't tell you anything until it was too late anyway. I have never tried to get an Elder pet, as I always wanted either Dire or Hearty depending on its use. I have read the guides on evolving pets, and never thought it was as hard as you make it out though.

I'll not sign or unsign this, as I'm on the fence. I don't see it as anything needed, and may not be possible, but I'm not sure it would be a bad thing.

genofreek · Dec 16, 2008, 09:39 PM // 21:39

I'd /sign for an indicator to let you know how your pet's evolving so you can correct as necessary to get the sort of pet you want, but an automatic Dire/Hearty/Elder/Playful pet switch seems a bit too easy. Maybe develop a consumable/quest that will change your pet's nature? It'd be good for pets like the spider and black moa, which can only be charmed at level 20 and therefore don't get any evolution from the player.

Edit: Actually, it seems you CAN get different spider evolutions by finding and taming the sort you want. But my point still stands for the black moa.

MithranArkanere · Dec 17, 2008, 11:24 PM // 23:24

Yup. Getting the first one may be fun and all. But it's not fun in PvP where you need instant stuff.

And it isn't fun when you have to do it again and again.

So at least after getting your first pet of each evolution and each damage type the first time in level 20, you should be able to change to that evolution and that damage anytime. And after unlocking that in PvP.

Fitz Rinley · Dec 18, 2008, 03:35 PM // 15:35

Since, I don't expect anything to be done by NC West at all, I have not been keeping up with this. I still suspect that the number of elder pets in PvE is extremely limited to overall population. And the main reason for this is because one cannot guage what is going on in leveling their pet. Therefor people go for one extreme or the other. Unless you charm a pet that is already elder, which I used to do before they made it impossible to accomplish, then you are simply out of luck.

MagmaRed · Dec 18, 2008, 09:47 PM // 21:47

I have met only 2 or 3 people in the game that wanted an Elder pet. Everyone else I have talked with about pet evolutions wanted Dire or Hearty. Not sure a 'population' of Elder pets would say much about how hard it is, or how needed.

Fitz Rinley · Dec 31, 2008, 12:13 AM // 00:13

A total lack of population of something which provides middle of the road stats, neither penalized in health nor in damage, indicates lack of support for it. I understand wanting something to be Dire because you want a tank whose lower health will hold agro while you support its damage output, or Hearty because the higher health means you can use it for harrassement while not being forced to heal it quite as often (and it avoids agro now aimed at lower health and AL targets). There is also, Elder for middle of the road play that does not depend on either extreme. I would suspect the majority of the players have hearty because some do not understand evolution at all and some dont care. I would suspect a slightly smaller group have Dire because *damage is way kewl, man,* while a small few comprehend how to tank it. The derth of Elder Evolution means the middle road is too narrow and too difficult to achieve. Achieving a hearty or dire pet ought to be what one has to work towards, not have as an insta-happen through neglect.

Aldric · Dec 31, 2008, 02:04 AM // 02:04

Ideally I would prefer the Elder evolution aswell.

I run my Pet on my R/P builds mainly because I like pets - I know other builds are more efficient but i don't care and I've tried both Hearty and Dire evolutions. I tend to be a bit lax with healing so i found Dire a bit annoying and so im using a hearty at the mo.

I'm not too bothered about a switch where we can change evolutions at will (although that would be nice) but some kind of information on how we can level a pet to preferred evolution would be nice. I've tried a number of times and never managed anything other than Hearty or Dire

Striken7 · Dec 31, 2008, 02:24 AM // 02:24

Most people don't want an Elder pet because it's the worst evolution type. That's the reason you could probably never see a single evolved Elder pet, not because of how hard it is (people can max the Kurzick and Hero titles, but you think the "difficulty" in getting an Elder pet is what's stopping people?)

People have gotten Elder pets in the past, and you are still able to get an Elder pet now if you so choose. Sure, a nice evolution bar would help, but you certainly don't need it to do anything.