Commands for pets

i used to beta test an MMORPG, called RYL(risk your life) online. the castor class of the Merkhadian race, has this skill that summons a fire demon. the fire demon is a small baby volcano at level 1, but turns into a winged demon with a giant scythe at max level(5), but that's not relevant. what i like about the demon system, is that you're able to control it.

with the fire demon out, you get 4 simple command buttons. one tells the demon to decimate itself; or unsummon. another tells it to attack a selected target. the 3rd one tells it to go into guard mode; meaning it'll attack anything that attacks it or its master. the last command tells it to just stand there and do nothing, even if a mob of monsters is raping it to death.

let's compare that to our ranger's pets controls. you attack a monster, the pet attacks. you don't attack, nor does it. it gets attacked, it fights back. you get attacked, it looks away. you attack a different target that suddenly approached you, the stupid thing keeps biting away at the first target you called. you use the party call(ctrl shift spacebar) to tell the tanker henchies to engage an enemy, the pet stays by your side, unconcerned.

it would be a really really nice improvement to the game if we're able to issue simple commands to the pet. in the least, make it so it responds to Ctrl+Shift+spacebar so i can get the strong bear to do its job and tank the mobs for me while i put down my traps. it would also be good if there's another "return" command that tells it to return by your side regardless of what's happening. this could create a new strategy involving getting the pets to pull a mob towards traps you just set up in the back.

i guess the same improvement could be done to the henchmen as well.

Did a search function to find this thread. I whole heartedly agree.

Pets should be able to listen to team commands. Just like "Fido! Fetch!" in real life, "I'm targetting Mergoyle!" the pet should just rush right at it.

Also, it'd be more beneficial and FAR more convenient that the pet attacks had the same 'cast flash' animation that other skills have.

When you execute 2 skills in succession, they have that 'stall flash' animation in the icon that indicates you're doing the first skill pressed and when it's FINISHED, the 2nd skill activates.

Pet chomper skills should do the same. I want to be able to execute Feral Lunge right behind Scavenger's Strike without having to wait for the pet to actually get to the enemy.

I target say a Charr. I hit the Feral Lunge skill key just before I start shooting at it. Before the pet even GETS to the charr, I've pressed Scavenger's Strike and start shooting simultaneously. The skills don't waste mana if the pet is next to me and they get casted in succession.

Make controlling the pet similar to controlling yourself! I don't see what the problem is with that...

I agree with this.

Though I have not played a Ranger before from my observations pet commands would be a good addititon to the game.

I don't think 'commands' like a whole new user interface or something is needed.

Just make the pet handle EXACTLY like your character.

When you target an enemy and hit ctrl+shift+spacebar, you don't attack, and your pet faces the enemy and starts running.

Or if that's too complicated [why I'm not sure], just do the 2nd option I mentioned. If there's a pet attack skill on your skill bar [which should always have at least 2-3], then if you target an enemy and use the pet attack, the pet runs up to it and strikes with the skill you've chosen instead of standing there sniffing the air.

/signed

One command I'd like to see is "Sit!".

I've brought this up in the past, as a ranger one of your primary duties is to pull the bad guys. Unfortunately, if your pet is with you and you attack something your pet will rush out and attack it, too. Not what you want if you're pulling.

So, "Sit, Fido, sit. Stay. I'll be right back. Stay."

if GW should get command support for the pet, then there should be command support for all NPCs! The pet is just one simple special case of a NPC, so I guess it will not be much more implementation work to implement this for all NPCs.
Good, useful examples would be "rez me", "rez XY", "heal me", "heal XY", "wait here", "come here", "stay behind me", "attack" (which is already default) or "flee!"

Indeed, commands should be used. I realy hope they get implemented, because you can command a player but not NPC's and thats not the way it was menth to be (atleast I think that NPC's should be more 'verry silent' humans :P)

I think the npcs are fine. You don't have skills for the npcs...

It's the PET that this thread was meant for. This pet, this companion supposed to literally be an extention of yourself.

You should attack from far away while your pet does warrior duty...

With that in mind, pets should move as fast as you order it to.

Change targets when you announce it. Use skills in combo style just like a regular warrior would. Crit when enemy runs, etc.

That might be, but I don't think that it would be all that wise to add this and leave henchies unchanged. Trying to get henchies to stay back and not suicide is pretty hard, just like your pet. So why only apply these changes to pets?