Curse

gremlin · Jun 26, 2010, 07:25 PM // 19:25

I reserve the right to be wrong about anything I post here but for me its all down to personal experience.
First do I enjoy the build and second is it good enough for what I wish to achieve.
Its also about effectiveness am I more effective as a character by using an animal companion or not.

I can split points between 2 3 4 or more skill tracks but can that be effective.

Reducing the damage I do with a bow to have my companion do more damage is ok as long as I can manage the energy select targets and monitor the battle.
Can I also effectively micromanage what the companion is doing and what I am doing and is the overall damage done by the two of us significantly lower than what I could do alone.

Would I rather have a controllable companion or a mindless attacking drone, the former obviously.
That said Minion masters have mindless drones and so do Spirit spam builds and they do alright.
It's all about when and where you let loose these forces, and the pet is not that controllable they are just about the same as heroes and henchies.

The only fully controllable forces in the game are a good human party.

Amy Awien · Jun 26, 2010, 11:14 PM // 23:14

There's no big loss with a 3 attrib split, 11/10/10 does not loose much damage compared to 12/12, especially considering the use of runes and the fact that increasing a weapon attribute beyond 12 has a reduced return of investment.

You can set a pet at a specific target, make it follow your attacks or retreat from combat, thats more control then you have over henchmen. Flags would be nice but I can see huge interface problems if you equip heroes with pets ...

dagrdagaz · Jul 06, 2010, 01:01 PM // 13:01

/notsigned
I do not want a pet thats always agressive.

I wanted to add something else, dunno if it deserves a separate topic.
Due to this crappy attack AI from pets i just discovered Pet Attack skills dont work properly.
I was testing Poisonous Bite on a Dummy in Isle of Nameless, to test if the pet would continue attacking the Dummy after using Poisonous Bite on it.

I selected a dummy, and pressed Poisonous Bite skill,
and NOTHING happened !!!
My pet didn't even use only Poisenous Bite on the dummy!

Skill Description:
Pet Attack. Your animal companion attempts a Poisonous Bite that Poisons target foe for 5...17...20 seconds.

Oh, fyi, i had my pet set to Guard.

Pet AI and these Pet Attack skills really need fixing, hopefully when the Test Krewe is done with the Dervish overhaul.

Mintha Syl · Jul 06, 2010, 02:05 PM // 14:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by dagrdagaz

I was testing Poisonous Bite on a Dummy in Isle of Nameless, to test if the pet would continue attacking the Dummy after using Poisonous Bite on it.

I selected a dummy, and pressed Poisonous Bite skill,
and NOTHING happened !!!
My pet didn't even use only Poisenous Bite on the dummy!

You should know pet doesn't attack if on guard unless you auto attack the target or the pets itself gets attacked.

dagrdagaz · Jul 07, 2010, 10:23 AM // 10:23

I still stand by my point that even in Guard mode the pet should start attacking (and using the Pet Attack skill) when pressing a Pet Attack skill.

Otherwise it sounds utterly stupid, a skill that is called a Pet Attack, but the pet does not attack when using it (when the pet is not attacking yet).

The Drunkard · Jul 08, 2010, 05:57 AM // 05:57

Can we please get over this "beastmaster caster LOLOLOLOL" crap? There are such things as ranger BM's. I think the idea of having a pet attack a nearby target (unless ordered otherwise) after the current target dies isn't a bad idea.

/sign

Quote:

Originally Posted by dagrdagaz

I still stand by my point that even in Guard mode the pet should start attacking (and using the Pet Attack skill) when pressing a Pet Attack skill.

Otherwise it sounds utterly stupid, a skill that is called a Pet Attack, but the pet does not attack when using it (when the pet is not attacking yet).

It doesn't.

If you actvate a pet attack, the pet has a 10 second window to attack something before the skill "expires"

dagrdagaz · Jul 08, 2010, 08:56 PM // 20:56

Then change the name to Pet Skill instead of Pet Attack.

Yaksha · Jul 16, 2010, 07:11 AM // 07:11

Would it be sensible to have the pet attack an enemy that you are casting a spell on as well as attacking an enemy that you are attacking?

It seems a bit silly, that I could attack an enemy with my staff and the pet follows. But if i attack the enemy with a spell, the pet just stands still and does nothing, even though I am attacking my enemy.

That would probably help a lot with the caster/pet problem, but still not make the pet fight independently (it still has to follow what you're attacking, just expanding what counts as an attack a bit).

I keep a pet stalker with me just because I like to, but most of the time it just stands there looking stupid during fights because I keep forgetting that I need to hit 'space' on every new enemy before it will do anything.

dagrdagaz · Jul 16, 2010, 10:22 AM // 10:22

@Yaksha
I have mentioned this in another topic, and would like that yes.

Pet AI needs improvement, but its not high on the Test Krew priority list i fear.

Mintha Syl · Jul 16, 2010, 10:46 AM // 10:46

well, it now looks like they completely solved pet control issues...in gw2

Miteshu · May 31, 2011, 01:14 AM // 01:14

/signed all the way.

This will make Ranger pets more useful, and makes Vanq a lot more easy. So instead of a having to pull x12103 times I can make the pets tank with grace.

Mordiego · May 31, 2011, 06:49 AM // 06:49

maybe their AI will get improved along witth melee heroes

Dewshine Wildclaw · May 31, 2011, 11:52 AM // 11:52

I never had problems with my pet, and have never really been running anything else on my ranger for the 4 years I played her as my main.
Sure it aint as OP or as effective as other kinds of builds, but I quite like it anyway, and it is not as horrible as some people make it sound.

Would I like pets to become more effective? Maybe, although I don't seem to have any problems.
Do I like this idea? Not sure, theres already decent commands, and having a pet thats always aggresive does not sound good imo.

I could want something that somehow lessen the delays between targets and from when I attack till it is there. But for most part I kinda like pets the way they are.

Miteshu · May 31, 2011, 06:31 PM // 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dewshine Wildclaw

I never had problems with my pet, and have never really been running anything else on my ranger for the 4 years I played her as my main.
Sure it aint as OP or as effective as other kinds of builds, but I quite like it anyway, and it is not as horrible as some people make it sound.

Would I like pets to become more effective? Maybe, although I don't seem to have any problems.
Do I like this idea? Not sure, theres already decent commands, and having a pet thats always aggresive does not sound good imo.

I could want something that somehow lessen the delays between targets and from when I attack till it is there. But for most part I kinda like pets the way they are.

Set it to guard. That way it only attacks what you attack.

When it is aggressive, your pets will be the first to tank, which makes it very useful for Vqing since the entire objective is to annihilate everything.

melissa b · May 31, 2011, 07:59 PM // 19:59

Maybe anet kept the ai like this and restricted the controls on purpose so pets wouldn't be overpowered?

Miteshu · May 31, 2011, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by melissa b

Maybe anet kept the ai like this and restricted the controls on purpose so pets wouldn't be overpowered?

How is it OP?

Press x or the 'target closest' key, attack once, pet attacks. Making pet always aggressive removes the minor annoyance of having to flag heroes then pull.

melissa b · May 31, 2011, 10:11 PM // 22:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miteshu

How is it OP?

Press x or the 'target closest' key, attack once, pet attacks. Making pet always aggressive removes the minor annoyance of having to flag heroes then pull.

As I don't play pets I asked the question, as I was wondering why it was set the way it was. I thought I read a long time ago about pets not having flags and other ai issues for balance.

walker911 · Jun 29, 2011, 09:59 AM // 09:59

If you do the hero/hench will stop attacking and run to you thinking you are running away.

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Amy Awien · Jun 29, 2011, 10:35 AM // 10:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miteshu

How is it OP?

With 33% damage reduction, Call of Protection, Symbiotic Bond and Heal as One pets become nearly indestructible - while you stay safely out of aggro range and the pet auto-aggros it's targets. Add a couple of protective rituals and they do become indestructible, Balthazar's Aura for infinite energy. Eight of such pets on a rampage will eat through nearly anything PvE can throw at you while you read a newspaper.

Not that I'd be terribly upset if they did make pets 'aggressive' ...

Ximvotn · Jun 29, 2011, 12:56 PM // 12:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amy Awien

With 33% damage reduction, Call of Protection, Symbiotic Bond and Heal as One pets become nearly indestructible - while you stay safely out of aggro range and the pet auto-aggros it's targets. Add a couple of protective rituals and they do become indestructible, Balthazar's Aura for infinite energy. Eight of such pets on a rampage will eat through nearly anything PvE can throw at you while you read a newspaper.

Not that I'd be terribly upset if they did make pets 'aggressive' ...

Do hero's buff pets properly or is this coming from a player point of view? The balthazar's aura sounds good.