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Fixing Pets!
x90210
Member Posts: 14 Arc User
(inb4 neutering joke.)
Basically, once you hit 60, if not before, all pets (ie. companions) are useless, save Ioun stones. The reason for this is simple:
• Pets draw agro you are trying to ninja around.
Simple solution: Make them stop doing this.
Make it so pets no longer attack any mob that isn't attacking you, and that you haven't attacked, then make it so mobs ignore companions not in combat mode.
End of problem - no more everyone running around with pebbles floating around their heads.
But wait, we can do better!
• When in a dungeon/skirmish - use the same health/DR scaling for companions that all the other mobs in the dungeon get - no more 1-hit wonder epic Defenders!
• For Defenders and Strikers: when an enemy targets the player for attack (not just the threat display animation, but the actual charge/attack stage), have it move towards the enemy in question - whether or not it's going to be dead before it gets there. There's nothing more frustrating than shooting a zombie rotter in the front, and your guardian defender companion just sitting next to you like nothing's happening and there aren't twenty other rotters plodding towards you right behind the first.
• For Leaders, Healers, and Controllers: similarly, if multiple enemies are targeting the player, and the player is going to kill the current target before it intercepts, pick one of the other attackers at random and/or start your regenerative healing rampage.
Okay, the first two fixes listed here are easy, the last few might require some coding. As there's a new mod coming up, thought I'd bring this up while there's still a chance to fix this long running headache that's plagued Neverwinter since the dawn of Knox.
Damnation Scourge Warlocks: This would save this class outright. At the moment, Damnation is nothing but a troll path - but the very first fix there would make it viable at epic levels. As it is, every time a Damnation SW joins an epic PUG, they tend to get kicked from party as soon as the rest of the party realizes their undismissable agro-drawing pet is eternal, and as a result, is going to make the dungeon take damned forever to clear. (Similar with any nubs too stupid to dismiss their Companions.) The very first fix (no agro) solves all that madness.
Basically, once you hit 60, if not before, all pets (ie. companions) are useless, save Ioun stones. The reason for this is simple:
• Pets draw agro you are trying to ninja around.
Simple solution: Make them stop doing this.
Make it so pets no longer attack any mob that isn't attacking you, and that you haven't attacked, then make it so mobs ignore companions not in combat mode.
End of problem - no more everyone running around with pebbles floating around their heads.
But wait, we can do better!
• When in a dungeon/skirmish - use the same health/DR scaling for companions that all the other mobs in the dungeon get - no more 1-hit wonder epic Defenders!
• For Defenders and Strikers: when an enemy targets the player for attack (not just the threat display animation, but the actual charge/attack stage), have it move towards the enemy in question - whether or not it's going to be dead before it gets there. There's nothing more frustrating than shooting a zombie rotter in the front, and your guardian defender companion just sitting next to you like nothing's happening and there aren't twenty other rotters plodding towards you right behind the first.
• For Leaders, Healers, and Controllers: similarly, if multiple enemies are targeting the player, and the player is going to kill the current target before it intercepts, pick one of the other attackers at random and/or start your regenerative healing rampage.
Okay, the first two fixes listed here are easy, the last few might require some coding. As there's a new mod coming up, thought I'd bring this up while there's still a chance to fix this long running headache that's plagued Neverwinter since the dawn of Knox.
Damnation Scourge Warlocks: This would save this class outright. At the moment, Damnation is nothing but a troll path - but the very first fix there would make it viable at epic levels. As it is, every time a Damnation SW joins an epic PUG, they tend to get kicked from party as soon as the rest of the party realizes their undismissable agro-drawing pet is eternal, and as a result, is going to make the dungeon take damned forever to clear. (Similar with any nubs too stupid to dismiss their Companions.) The very first fix (no agro) solves all that madness.
Post edited by x90210 on
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...and as for AI, we don't really need them to be any smarter... We just need the game to be set to they don't go and agro anything and everything. In a LUA script, things like that are usually just a simple flag.
This ain't rocket science, much less anything so complex and monumental that you need to surrender to apathy.
Will it dodge the red -- no
Will it understand positioning for aoe -- no
Will it understand focus targeting -- no
The ai is a huge part of the problem and why pet classes are horrible in every game.
ie every x seconds it throws a random power in the battle that would have its own cooldown.
in one minute of battle he will shot one power rank 3 (party buff), 3 times a power rank 2 (individual buff), and a lot of times a <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> attacks.
But while all that would be nice, they don't need to do any of that to be put in the range of usability - they just need not to die every time they fail to dodge the red - and having the same adjustments as the other mobs in the dungeon would fix that, at least for higher quality pets, if not for all of them. (Besides, that's what bells are for - and the pets aren't here to replace players, but to augment their masters and the group.)
That, however, isn't nearly as important as being flagged not to attack nor draw agro before their owners enter combat. As it stands now, not only are they not effective, they are detrimental - the point where an entire Feat tree (SW: Damnation) is basically a developer instituted troll class.