This game boasts about the most horrible pet system of any game I have ever played. The fact you need at least 2 slots 2 simply use a pet(comfort animal to keepit alive) is kind of excessive. But when consider this game has no controls whatsoever for pets its a real pity.
Truthfully the devs had no buisness putting in pets if they were going to half ass it. Everquest has had a superior pet control system and that game is a decade old. Basic things like pet attack this target and pet come back to me....not even in the game. Much less a guard this area command.
The pet system is so retarded that if I take one god damn step my pet comes running back to me. He wont stay on the target. So I send my pet on a monk, and the monk moves around the corner a little bit. The minute I adjust my view to see him the pet comes right back to my feet. How in the world did this kraptastic pet system make it past beta?
Truly unbelievable, horrid system. It makes no sense to require charm animal and basically comfort animal, AND then have no controls at all. Pets are simply a shoddy gimic in this game. To invest 10+ points beast mastery and 2 slots....just to have the pet, not to mention attack skills, only to find you have a braindead idiot following you around instead of attacking the target you want him to is beynd comprehension. How about a positive update and fix this issue. It should have been done at release.
Whydid they even put pets in this game?
Mhydrian
Maagus
Well, I have fought the ranger build recently in Tombs. Their main strategy was using pets. I was quite suprised, they worked pretty well and they have beaten us.
rii
Pet attacks are actually better than normal ranger attacks... e.g.
distracting lunge.... same as distracting shot but with a cooldown of 3 seconds less. Remember, the game is about specialisation, and therefore you have to specialise to get anything out of a pet ^^
Whatsmore beast mastery also has tigers fury, symbiosis and fertile season in it.... what more do you want ???
distracting lunge.... same as distracting shot but with a cooldown of 3 seconds less. Remember, the game is about specialisation, and therefore you have to specialise to get anything out of a pet ^^
Whatsmore beast mastery also has tigers fury, symbiosis and fertile season in it.... what more do you want ???
Ollj
If you dont know how to use pets, dont use them.
If you are low in beast mastery dont use them, youre just feeding a necro.
If youre high on beast mastery your team size just increases by almost 1 members at the beginning, depending on how high beast mastery and amount of beast skills in bar is.
Best mastery should never be below 11, because most beast mastery numbers increase fast for every extra atribute point spend in it!
The good thing about pets is that your pet skills determine what kind of foes are your pets favourite food, but your foe most times doesnt know your pet skills fast enough.
pets are a "secret kind of class" in early match.
If you are low in beast mastery dont use them, youre just feeding a necro.
If youre high on beast mastery your team size just increases by almost 1 members at the beginning, depending on how high beast mastery and amount of beast skills in bar is.
Best mastery should never be below 11, because most beast mastery numbers increase fast for every extra atribute point spend in it!
The good thing about pets is that your pet skills determine what kind of foes are your pets favourite food, but your foe most times doesnt know your pet skills fast enough.
pets are a "secret kind of class" in early match.
thorizdin
Pets are ok for PvE, especially early on, but they are worthless in most builds for PvP. In addition, they get toasted in the late stages of PvE because the can't be protected by being infused.
The lack of basic commands and the fact that they require so much real estate on your skill bar to even be decent is a sad fact. This is one area that GW really suffers by comparison to other online games.
The lack of basic commands and the fact that they require so much real estate on your skill bar to even be decent is a sad fact. This is one area that GW really suffers by comparison to other online games.
Gedscho
would it be "unbalancing" to give the pets the same rudimentary understanding of orders that the henchies have?
i think not, but who am I to judge.
i think not, but who am I to judge.
Ollj
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Gedscho
would it be "unbalancing" to give the pets the same rudimentary understanding of orders that the henchies have?
i think not, but who am I to judge. |
but pets are just not like hencheman, hencheman are full players, pets are not intended to be such.
Lorelei
I think it looks great a girl in armor, with ascalon helmet, carrying a big axe, and have a pet. Looks like W/R w/ pet is the most underrated choice. Am proud!
Mhydrian
Pets are done better in every other game i have played. If you move for any reason, your pet stops attacking the target. The ability to sic a pet on one target at least be free to move would be the very least GW could do. Consier how much point/skillbar investment is required just to use a pet.
UnOrthOdOx
Some commands would be nice, but in strictly PvE, the pet AI can be better than the henchmen. The pet will stay on a target while I target other things to poison or disrupt them, not try to run to each one in succession and end up not doing anything, like Stefan will for instance. He seems to stay pretty good in PvE, even if I move.
Then, mobs dont tend to move like people do in PVP. Haven't used a pet PVP, so couldn't comment on how much a problem that really is. Perhaps it's something to do with the target moving, and the pet 'losing' it's target.
Then, mobs dont tend to move like people do in PVP. Haven't used a pet PVP, so couldn't comment on how much a problem that really is. Perhaps it's something to do with the target moving, and the pet 'losing' it's target.
Gedscho
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ollj
one reasin why Thunderhead Keep is relatively difficult is, the dwarf king uses pet AI.
but pets are just not like hencheman, hencheman are full players, pets are not intended to be such. |
thats what my pet should be able to do.
(at least at high beast mastery that is)
well i got a clue: ask peter molineux or howsthatspelled if you could take the pet routines from black and white:
oh yea, heres the flurry rope... come on, be nice to that troll, you know, it just had a hard childhood...
oh and not to forget: eat that darn villager! come on! eat it!
and now take a crap right in the middle of the market place... good boy...
Alex Weekes
Quote:
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Originally Posted by thorizdin
In addition, they get toasted in the late stages of PvE because the can't be protected by being infused.
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Epinephrine
I minimally want to be able to call my pet to my target and call it back to me.
I want it to go to the target I initally call, allowing me to roam across other targets and have it stay on its target (it does this); If I need it to break off, I want tab utton that calls it back to me, overriding its urge to fight. If I want it to break off and target my opponent I suppose that this could be accomplished by calling the pet back, then calling a target again.
What would be even nicer is if my pet had an attack bar like I do, showing what my pets opponent was doing. This way I could sick my pet on a healer in the back, to use pet skills like disrupting lunge on, while using my bow to poison/harass others. This would make the pet more useful. Have it so a called pet won't attack until I call a target, so to pull a group, I simply call my pet first, then attack, then run back - pet stays with me. Once I want the pet to run back in I call target and off he goes. I get two target bars, one for my pet's enemy and one for mine.
Best of all would be to make pets either resurrectable by a monk OR have the charm animal skill double as the resurrection skill. Comfort animal can be kept as a skill, it would instead heal the pet and cure conditions (maybe just the conditions that an antidote signet cures) - that or just merge the current charm animal and comfort animal skills.
I want it to go to the target I initally call, allowing me to roam across other targets and have it stay on its target (it does this); If I need it to break off, I want tab utton that calls it back to me, overriding its urge to fight. If I want it to break off and target my opponent I suppose that this could be accomplished by calling the pet back, then calling a target again.
What would be even nicer is if my pet had an attack bar like I do, showing what my pets opponent was doing. This way I could sick my pet on a healer in the back, to use pet skills like disrupting lunge on, while using my bow to poison/harass others. This would make the pet more useful. Have it so a called pet won't attack until I call a target, so to pull a group, I simply call my pet first, then attack, then run back - pet stays with me. Once I want the pet to run back in I call target and off he goes. I get two target bars, one for my pet's enemy and one for mine.
Best of all would be to make pets either resurrectable by a monk OR have the charm animal skill double as the resurrection skill. Comfort animal can be kept as a skill, it would instead heal the pet and cure conditions (maybe just the conditions that an antidote signet cures) - that or just merge the current charm animal and comfort animal skills.
Nash
In reply to the topic title: For the scrubs who just have to have a pet, because, you know, pets are sooo cool.
Algren Cole
as someone else has stated Pets make a very good addition if you are specializing in beast mastery. This entire game is about specializing in one area....not being great at everything. Spread your points out amongst 4 or 5 attributes and you aren't going to be effective...spread them out over 2 or 3 attributes and you're going to be incredibly effective...this is where the pet becomes effective.
Also...most characters have an obvious workable build very early on....Ranger is a very tough class to get familiar with. More and More we are seeing solid PvP AND PvE builds that make the ranger very very useful. Namely the 4 man UW Trapper Builds...and a few of the PvP builds(One based entirely around pets and beast mastery)...But for the new players wanting to play a ranger for the first time it can be quite difficult to find a build that works and makes you a contributing member of a team. The addition of a pet makes it easier for you to contribute without having to know an extensive amount about builds. The pet acts as a tank and an extra damage dealer. This is why you notice later in the game that select few rangers are still using their pet...and the ones that do generally have a VERY useful Pet build.
Also...most characters have an obvious workable build very early on....Ranger is a very tough class to get familiar with. More and More we are seeing solid PvP AND PvE builds that make the ranger very very useful. Namely the 4 man UW Trapper Builds...and a few of the PvP builds(One based entirely around pets and beast mastery)...But for the new players wanting to play a ranger for the first time it can be quite difficult to find a build that works and makes you a contributing member of a team. The addition of a pet makes it easier for you to contribute without having to know an extensive amount about builds. The pet acts as a tank and an extra damage dealer. This is why you notice later in the game that select few rangers are still using their pet...and the ones that do generally have a VERY useful Pet build.
silvertemplar
The requests the OP asked is actually things i want to see on HENCHMEN first. I would lke to be able to tell henchmen to attack target or come back to me and STAY HERE. I dont expect such commands for each henchmen, just for the whole group [leader of team gets it if its a mixed team]. Telling hench to stand still, follow and attack sounds pretty basic, only THEN would i expect them on pets :P
thorizdin
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Alex Weekes
Not true, in the June 29th update pets were given the equivalent of infused armour.
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StarGatherer
snipes
I've actually seen top 50 guilds using pets effectively in gvg and have tested that pets are actually useful and can deal out good damage here and there. To use a pet effectively you need 3-4 slots on your bar. Rangers dont need anymore than 4 skills of their own mainclass to be super effective. A preparation 2 attacks and another skill maybe a stance. If your monks know to heal the pets then they dont die easy.
Fungus Amongus
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Epinephrine
- that or just merge the current charm animal and comfort animal skills.
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thorizdin
Quote:
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Originally Posted by snipes
I've actually seen top 50 guilds using pets effectively in gvg and have tested that pets are actually useful and can deal out good damage here and there.
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Having said that, we have run a pet build where everyone brought a pet and most teams couldn't handle the mass confusion, however, I believe the meta game is well beyond that now and that kind of build wouldn't be successful.
Are their builds that can use them, certainly there are. However, no one that I have seen has found a method of using them effectively for any length of time. The best use so far has been as fodder for Death Nova or for making minions. Not the best use of two slots
midnyte13
what pet r u using or have you used?...the initial panther pet was ok....but thought Iwas upgrading and got a snow wolf....he's dead at the end of every enncounter....
Cymmina
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Mhydrian
This game boasts about the most horrible pet system of any game I have ever played. The fact you need at least 2 slots 2 simply use a pet(comfort animal to keepit alive) is kind of excessive. But when consider this game has no controls whatsoever for pets its a real pity.
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In Ultima Online, You needed to invest 200 out of 700 total skill points to have a pet, and you weren't really that effective until you took up Veterinary for another 100 skill points... then Magery for another 100 skill points so you can have your pet travel with you. That leaves you with 300 skill points to invest in 3 other skills to get either a defensive ability to protect yourself or more firepower (fyi: few skills are worth having less than 100 points in them). Spending 2 out of 8 skill slots seems fair in comparison.
Manipulating a pet is not much more difficult than a henchman. The AI isn't quite the same (only engaging targets and backing off when you retreat is different), but it's a hell of a lot better than it was in beta. You had to have ~5 pet skills to make them worthwhile and Comfort Animal didn't used to resurrect, so you needed Revive Animal, too.
stingite
For as much discussion on these boards as there is about pets, it would be nice to get a statement from anet on whether or not they have plans to work on them and which areas they actually deem worthy of their work. Infusing pets seemed like throwing us a bone so we could actually make it to the end of the PvE world with a pet by our side. It would be nice to know if they have any other plans at all in the works. Just a hint. pssst . . . new line commands. or psssst . . . improved out of the box beastmastery pvp template. or psssstt . . . better mid-range scalability for beastmastery attributes. Stuff like that.
Talesin Darkbriar
OP~
Pets are optional - even for rangers.
Pets aren't human, they're animals. Why should they have human intelligence?
Lastly, people always complain about what they don't understand.
You fit this description.
Pets are optional - even for rangers.
Pets aren't human, they're animals. Why should they have human intelligence?
Lastly, people always complain about what they don't understand.
You fit this description.
StrongBow
There is one problem!"Charm Animal" skill .. i can say the most passive skill in all GW. :S sad to say, you have to equip it, for only one reason *DUH* summon a pet 
. Maybe to make it a bit functional they should allow this skill to "Push/Un-push" to engage/relase a target but that tends to be seen in future.
As for pet skills, i am really impressed but its something that takes time to master and you have to watch closely the pet attacks to syncho it with your pet skills.
Beastmastery sometimes it the key attribute for a Ranger to deliver his full potential and sometimes his bane to its utter failure.
. Maybe to make it a bit functional they should allow this skill to "Push/Un-push" to engage/relase a target but that tends to be seen in future.As for pet skills, i am really impressed but its something that takes time to master and you have to watch closely the pet attacks to syncho it with your pet skills.
Beastmastery sometimes it the key attribute for a Ranger to deliver his full potential and sometimes his bane to its utter failure.
quanzong
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ollj
one reasin why Thunderhead Keep is relatively difficult is, the dwarf king uses pet AI.
but pets are just not like hencheman, hencheman are full players, pets are not intended to be such. |
Tellani Artini
Why did they put pets in this game? For rangers to use them. It's nice to have an 80AL 15 damage absorbing tank in snake dance that gives me 10 energy every 8 seconds. Also nice to keep monks under 7 energy indefinitely with quickening zephyr up in tombs. Only problems I have with pets involve their resurrection in GvG, how they res back at base while I'm in the field and I'd have to run back to get them. That's a tough one to fix; just have to res the pet instantly I guess.
I used my pet in GvG back when we were ranked 25 or so, but mostly because we fought guilds that didn't realize that spirit spam is horrible in GvG. No mobility.
I used my pet in GvG back when we were ranked 25 or so, but mostly because we fought guilds that didn't realize that spirit spam is horrible in GvG. No mobility.
cookiehoarder
Quote:
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Originally Posted by thorizdin
Pets are ok for PvE, especially early on, but they are worthless in most builds for PvP. In addition, they get toasted in the late stages of PvE because the can't be protected by being infused.
The lack of basic commands and the fact that they require so much real estate on your skill bar to even be decent is a sad fact. This is one area that GW really suffers by comparison to other online games. |
Tuna
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Talesin Darkbriar
OP~
Pets are optional - even for rangers. Pets aren't human, they're animals. Why should they have human intelligence? Lastly, people always complain about what they don't understand. You fit this description. |
In responce to the topic: Pets and their skills are pretty decent, just the AI sucks to much to make them worth your time.
Myth Osis
This has been argued in soo many thread before ..... WILL ANET do anything ........ well no.......
CLOSE THIS THREAD PLEASE as it brings no new information to the forums...
CLOSE THIS THREAD PLEASE as it brings no new information to the forums...
Azadaleou
Pets own for pvp if you use the pet skills. The problem I have with the entire line is you need to carry Comfort Animal to revive and heal your pet, a heal for yourself and Charm animal which has zero purpose in pvp. This leaves very little room for pet skills and I think thats the problem many people have with the beastmastery line.
Tellani Artini
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Azadaleou
Pets own for pvp if you use the pet skills. The problem I have with the entire line is you need to carry Comfort Animal to revive and heal your pet, a heal for yourself and Charm animal which has zero purpose in pvp. This leaves very little room for pet skills and I think thats the problem many people have with the beastmastery line.
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F0ster
ehh...i got my pet spider from the UW ....His name is 1337 .....or LEET ...either way you look at it....and he's just there for looks ...even though he does do some good dmg i must say
Mercury Angel
I'd have to say it seems like King Jalis Ironhammer has at least some minion AI traits-
Go up to the entrance to the fort:
After you kill the monsters outside the front gate, he'll immediately aggro to the enemies up on the wall, and walk into the wall stupidly and just stand there, and once he's aggroed, he doesn't move... He just stays there and dies if you leave him behind for too long =\
Pets will unaggro, even if not right away.
Henchmen will unaggro easily. (Especially because the warrior hench can't get into melee range.)
Minions will remain glued to the wall indefinitely, and so does the King.
And while the above may be off-topic and largely pointless, this entire topic has been done and re-done in various incarnations, just thought the observation might be interesting related to the NPC AI.
Go up to the entrance to the fort:
After you kill the monsters outside the front gate, he'll immediately aggro to the enemies up on the wall, and walk into the wall stupidly and just stand there, and once he's aggroed, he doesn't move... He just stays there and dies if you leave him behind for too long =\
Pets will unaggro, even if not right away.
Henchmen will unaggro easily. (Especially because the warrior hench can't get into melee range.)
Minions will remain glued to the wall indefinitely, and so does the King.
And while the above may be off-topic and largely pointless, this entire topic has been done and re-done in various incarnations, just thought the observation might be interesting related to the NPC AI.
Gaile Gray
It's true that pets need attention. We don't pretend that they are perfect, and as you know, nothing in Guild Wars in set in stone, never to be examined or improved again. It's our objective in this area as in all others to continue to improve the systems and increase the fun factor by broadening your gameplay options.
We have had many discussions about possible changes. I was delighted when the ability to call targets was added, long ago. Small change, but it made life a lot easier, as a pet owner. I like the pet skills, too, and enjoyed their increase and refinement over the last months of Alpha. But yes, being able to have an animal follow some of the common dog obedience commands like "stay" and "heel" is a great idea, and the several other suggestions in this thread have a lot of value, too.
We do hear you and we will be making significant changes in the future.
We have had many discussions about possible changes. I was delighted when the ability to call targets was added, long ago. Small change, but it made life a lot easier, as a pet owner. I like the pet skills, too, and enjoyed their increase and refinement over the last months of Alpha. But yes, being able to have an animal follow some of the common dog obedience commands like "stay" and "heel" is a great idea, and the several other suggestions in this thread have a lot of value, too.
We do hear you and we will be making significant changes in the future.
Tourist
Whoa, ANet speaks! Well, Gaile Gray, anyways. Gaile speaks! Huzzah!
as a related aside, this is one of the very few times I've seen someone from a developer interact with and respond to us po' folk here on a fansite forum. Very, very cool stuff. Very encouraging too, that last bit about "significant changes." Pet commands? Controllable behaviors(aggressive attack, guard pet owner, ignore attacks)? Enquiring minds, etc etc...!
as a related aside, this is one of the very few times I've seen someone from a developer interact with and respond to us po' folk here on a fansite forum. Very, very cool stuff. Very encouraging too, that last bit about "significant changes." Pet commands? Controllable behaviors(aggressive attack, guard pet owner, ignore attacks)? Enquiring minds, etc etc...!
Haloknight9
A little something I dug up in the builds forums... I thought it was pretty nice.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...796#post303796
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...796#post303796
snipes
Quote:
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Originally Posted by thorizdin
LotD is, or more acurately was till we started our smurf guild, a Top 50 guild. We are 61st ATM, and we have fought almost all of the top 100 guilds, many several times. I have not seen a top 100 team run a pet build. In fact, other than teams that are below 400, I haven't seen a single team with a pet since release. Granted, we didn't GvG for almost a month after release, but thats pretty indicative of the low state of pets.
Having said that, we have run a pet build where everyone brought a pet and most teams couldn't handle the mass confusion, however, I believe the meta game is well beyond that now and that kind of build wouldn't be successful. Are their builds that can use them, certainly there are. However, no one that I have seen has found a method of using them effectively for any length of time. The best use so far has been as fodder for Death Nova or for making minions. Not the best use of two slots |
Well everytime we've faced SNA they have had pets and we have found them to be quit annoying. Their build didnt revolve around pets, of course not, but merely had some incorporated into it. Custom Premades had Wolves. I want to be able to unlock pets. I want to choose which pet i want on my custom premade =). They are far from useless, but they arent very useful in the larger sense.
stingite
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Gaile Gray
It's true that pets need attention. We don't pretend that they are perfect, and as you know, nothing in Guild Wars in set in stone, never to be examined or improved again. It's our objective in this area as in all others to continue to improve the systems and increase the fun factor by broadening your gameplay options.
We have had many discussions about possible changes. I was delighted when the ability to call targets was added, long ago. Small change, but it made life a lot easier, as a pet owner. I like the pet skills, too, and enjoyed their increase and refinement over the last months of Alpha. But yes, being able to have an animal follow some of the common dog obedience commands like "stay" and "heel" is a great idea, and the several other suggestions in this thread have a lot of value, too. We do hear you and we will be making significant changes in the future. |