Curse

quark123 · Mar 27, 2006, 05:00 PM // 17:00

A basic question here... how do I command my pet to attack something without me starting the attack?

I was thinking if it was possible to use the pet as a "sacrificial lamb" in difficult situations. Say there is a bunch of mobs that I possibly cannot take on, will it be viable to command the pet to attack them and run like a chicken while the pet keeps them engaged? Later I could just resurrect the pet.

SnoopJeDi · Mar 27, 2006, 05:45 PM // 17:45

Ctrl + Shift + Space will target the enemy and send out a team message about it. This usually gets henchmen and pets to attack.

jibikao · Mar 27, 2006, 06:52 PM // 18:52

In PvE, I find my pet's protection is less. If I don't attack, my pet usually just wanders around.

In PvP, if I die, my pet is actually very aggressive, like protecting my body or something.

I am not sure if you can actually command your pet to attack when you don't attack.

Jenosavel · Mar 27, 2006, 08:38 PM // 20:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnoopJeDi

Ctrl + Shift + Space will target the enemy and send out a team message about it. This usually gets henchmen and pets to attack.

No. It will cause henchmen to attack but it will have no effect on any pets in the party.

Currently the things that will trigger your pet to start attacking are:

1) attacking a target yourself (and still being in attack mode when the first arrow lands)
2) being attacked by a target adjacent to you
3) your pet being attacked by a target adjacent to it
4) you being dead and an enemy standing nearby to your corpse

SnipiousMax · Mar 27, 2006, 09:12 PM // 21:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenosavel

No. It will cause henchmen to attack but it will have no effect on any pets in the party.

This is, of course, one of the issues making beastmastery slightly irritating to use. I really wish that something would be done to fix it.

Jenosavel · Mar 27, 2006, 09:27 PM // 21:27

Amen, Snipious. Amen.

Big Tony · Mar 27, 2006, 09:33 PM // 21:33

It is rather annoying to have to attack before your pet does. I usually bring along a bow and start sniping. The pet will run in and start attacking, usually taking all the agro. Once my pet gets to about half health, i run in with my hammer and start smashing.

jibikao · Mar 27, 2006, 10:42 PM // 22:42

And did I mention that if you are a beast master, you can't "pull" the monsters with bow/staff? lol Many times my team will say "Hey Ranger, pull the monsters out with your bow" and I say "Sorry, I can't because my pet will lure everything out!"

A. Noid · Mar 27, 2006, 10:50 PM // 22:50

It'd be nice if you got a set of commands when you reach a certain level of BM. Say at attrib lvl 10 you got HEEL. At lvl 12 you get ATTACK. and so forth. Maybe even more complex like attakc the weaker/stronger mob.
These would be in addition to your 8 skills.
Come to think of it, it'd be nice for Henchies as well. Maybe stay while I pull. Or you go there- you go there, etc.

SnipiousMax · Mar 27, 2006, 11:32 PM // 23:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by A. Noid

It'd be nice if you got a set of commands when you reach a certain level of BM. Say at attrib lvl 10 you got HEEL. At lvl 12 you get ATTACK. and so forth. Maybe even more complex like attakc the weaker/stronger mob.
These would be in addition to your 8 skills.
Come to think of it, it'd be nice for Henchies as well. Maybe stay while I pull. Or you go there- you go there, etc.

I fear that would be getting too complicated. I just want them to fix it that the stupid pet attacks what I target (not what my arrow hits while I'm attacking), changes targets when I do, and stops attacking when I do. Those three things alone would make Beastmastery much more reliable, and are INCREDIBLY SIMPLE!

Maybe I should start sending a bug report everytime my pet refuses to change targets....

Jenosavel · Mar 28, 2006, 01:07 AM // 01:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by jibikao

And did I mention that if you are a beast master, you can't "pull" the monsters with bow/staff? lol Many times my team will say "Hey Ranger, pull the monsters out with your bow" and I say "Sorry, I can't because my pet will lure everything out!"

Actually, you can pull enemies with a beastmaster ranger. It's why I included the condition in my #1 statement above. If you attack a target with a long bow (ie: the target is a good distance away from you) and you start walking away to break your character out of its 'attacking' mode before that arrow lands, your pet will not charge in after the target. I use this all the time to pull while using a pet.

Many people inadvertently use this when attempting to send a pet into battle and then wonder why the pet does nothing while the foes bear down on them.

I have to correct people on this one all the time, as it's quite an obscure little thing.

SnipiousMax · Mar 28, 2006, 03:16 AM // 03:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenosavel

If you attack a target with a long bow (ie: the target is a good distance away from you) and you start walking away to break your character out of its 'attacking' mode before that arrow lands, your pet will not charge in after the target.

This is something most B/P Rangers don't know when pulling. Their pets always overextend and aggro more groups than they should.

Killsmith · Mar 28, 2006, 07:47 PM // 19:47

The only way to pull with while you have a pet is to use a long range bow and immediately turn and run as soon as the arrow leaves your bow. Turning and running keeps the pet from attacking, but it will still get enemies to attack.

For getting a pet to attack, I usually click on the enemy while it's out of range and press to attack. While I'm running towards the enemy I use a prep and my pet runs up ahead to attack. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Jenosavel · Mar 28, 2006, 08:24 PM // 20:24

The only time your pet will engage a target before you actually land an attack on it is when your pet is still in 'attack mode,' so to speak. If you were already engaged with a group and your pet was attacking, then simply hitting spacebar to initiate an attack, even if you cut it off before it happens, will send the pet in. This does not work if you haven't recently been in combat (picture it as working so long as you still can't ID items or that kind of thing because you were 'too recently in battle').

Again, people who don't understand how the AI works will have issues with this, because if you're fighting one group of mobs and accidentally tab to an enemy in a neighboring group, you can quite easily send your pet in to aggro the next group before you want to.

houndofhell93 · Apr 03, 2006, 03:45 AM // 03:45

ok u select a target shoot hit run the other way while spamming the space barr and that should just about do it it works for me =)