Hench Formation control (near/far)

Please, pretty please with sugar on top...

Would it be possible to integrate a little slide bar on the compass that will allow you to tell the hench how closely you want them to travel with you? There are times when you know that the first thing you will be hit with is an AoE attack, and if you know it's coming you would fan out. Sadly, the hench always follow you around at exactly adjacent (or nearby) distance, and get blasted with AoE like arrows from Avicara or Brain Freeze/Maelstrom by Ice Imps. Even if you had a "scatter" or "Fan out" command, it would reduce the infuriating masacre of your hench when exploring.
I am fully aware there are ways to beat the examples i mentioned (different builds or party groups etc), but i think the addition of some way to control the formation of the party would be very helpful for us Hero/Hench lovers. I figure a small slide control that wraps 'round part of the compass would be the best interface for it (as you already control flags from there anyway).

THanks for considering my idea,

Countess Corpula
Playing for last year and loving it.
(Proph/Factions/NF owner as well as many additional character slots)

PS: If this idea has been submitted, please forgive me. I did do a search for it but couldn't find it.

(Closed to prevent random thread resurrection. Please PM a mod if you wish to open this thread.) Re-opened for discussion.

good, I didn't want to be the first to sign it, but when this idea was mentioned to me I thought it was an excellent idea! You wouldn't need nothing like John Madden's Play book to set the hench, just a simple spread out mode so depending upon where you're at you can manually tell them how close you want them to you or away from you. Let's face it, we all need our personal space sometimes I want to kick the henchies when they get to close to me, and then they form that circle that surrounds me lol, but I personally think this is a great idea


/signed.

I've seen torment claws wipe out half my hench with that single special attack as I SPRINT by, having them not occupy the exact same square would probably help.... You can interrupt it, but it's just an example of how poorly they travel. When you're fighting a large horde of AOE spamming mobs it's pretty much impossible to stop them all with hench in tow.

/Signed

/signed they do tend to travel a bit too close to you and to each other

brilliant, just brilliant. /signed

Great idea

/signed

's they already fixed monsters to be less susceptible for aoe...

/signed for the slider

tho it really would need to be a slider type (or something controllable) so u could get them close for those tight spots u need to fit thu without agro

I'm glad everyone likes the idea so far, though it would be nice to see more than 8 signatures =). Further playing with henches has resulted in further observations, and so I would like to add an ammendment to this idea...

(observations with Necromancer)
I've noticed that hench/hero attack whatever i attack with my wand (though not what i'm casting on). This is really convenient when you want all your attacks to focus on one place... but some times this is not what you need. I've also noticed that once i call a target, and all my little henchies have at it, if I move my place (kite/strafe) they will stop attacking and run to me until I recommence my attack on said target. Now, if I'm the subject of a longterm AoE spell, it would be nice to be able to step out of it, without my hench (who aren't affected by said AoE) taking a break from the fight.

Here's what I propose:

Do As I Say, Not As I Do!

The game already has a feature that allows you to call a target (ctrl+space or ctrl+shift+space). This is great. But hench are keyed into my actions, not this call. If the dev team could programme the hench to respond to the called target, and not whoever i am wanding/casting on, this would allow me to better distribute my hexes on the opposing mob (I'm sure mesmers can relate). Sure i could tab through all the enemies in an area (even the ones out of my aggro circle) until i find the guy i'm looking for, but it speeds things up a good deal if i can just hold down ctrl to see my target, and click and cast... more surgical if you will.

So Henchies, i know it's hypocritical, but please do as i say, not as i do.

Countess Corpula

PS should i have made this a new thread, or is ammending it as i have ok?

Been a while so... Bump?

/signed
Fanning out has never been a huge issue for me, I can usually find groups for missions with AoE enemies. However sometimes the henchmen don't follow me close enough and I have to hug walls to avoid enemies...but I don't. because the henchmen aggro them. Same deal, though, great idea.

/signed
definitely need this

Been a while again... so again I *Bump*.

I realize that you have brought us a lot of really neat updates (like heroes working with Pet tammers, the new razah attainment, hardmode, etc.), but I really think that this is an idea that warrents a look see. It would seem the folks above tend to agree. I'm bumping it 'cause ideas tend to get lost in this thread very quickly.

/signed

Also consider a bunch up command for sneaking past mobs, or running away (when those henchies need to disengage from combat straight away!)

/sign
Too many times that hench/heroes die from Aoe becuse monk cant outheal the damge for multiple members

Defensive - they stay at the back of the group
Offensive - they move up front!

Granted that only works on heroes, but would the same system not work for Henches?

Then they wouldnt run into agro and they would keep their distance.

/signed

i want a slider to keep them close or fan them out *ever try capping SF with henches yea its a slaugter*

and also to keep heros atatcking something there is a lock feature to make them STAY attacking something though it could be improved by adding it next to their names instead of in their bar interface.

Psst, Norgu with [skill=text]Diversion[/skill] and [skill=text]Power Block[/skill] works wonders. Just be sure to lock him. -_-

/signed. This is a no brainer. Well, just make sure I don't have to adjust this every second.

OK, so another year has gone by, and so I resurect this thread once again. Flags are nice, but they don't work so well "on the go". This little suggestion of "back off" and "come hither" could greatly assist when traveling about with an AI group. So far no one has said this is a bad idea, and any who've posted support it with only minor alterations or exceptions. If some dev is out there looking for a new idea... maybe something to test out live before you drop it into GW2, this looks like a nice candidate.

I know we like to encourage people playing with people, but we are getting to the point where there are some outposts without enough players to make up a team. So if we could have better control of the heroes/hench, even in a small way, I'm sure it would be much appreciated.

-Countess

deserves a big fat
/SIGNED

nuff said