This creature following me.

Deanationables

So, I was sitting here playing this game and couldn't help but dream of someway to make this panther following me useful, I mean all he does is follow me and look menacingly cute! Then I thought, what if all the companions/pets could be of some use? What if my little House Cat or Guar could pick up a few items while they're running around with me on my adventure. Mainly as another resource for players to build off of, and to bring some true companionship into the game with maybe some new dialogue/quests(for humanoids) and feeding/grooming(for creatures) with influence results. Creating a minor secondary leveling system.

Companion/pet starts on a scale of influence at zero, through helping a humanoid companion with their personal issues and learning more about them through dialogue. Creature pets would be much of the same, though through gestures, ei: petting, grooming, and, feeding with periodic cooldowns. Some examples:

*With rate/rarity based on influence scale.*
*This would only occur while the companion/pet is active, maybe even through distance traveled/time played*

House Cat: Periodically brings you cooking ingredients he's found.
Vermilion Guar: Periodically collects herbs.
Nibenay Mudcrab: Could work as a treasure chest detector, frantically flailing his claw in the direction he wants you to go.
Imgaken Monkey: Could find small amounts of gold. Maybe scrounging up 5/10% of what the player loots in 1hr?

With some being a little more active.

Windhelm Wolfhound: Could be an active attacking companion, but only do around 5/10% of the player's weapon damage. The companion would also serve as a watcher, similar to the Magelight skill's stealth detection effect.
To the companion's player this wouldn't increase his/her detection of stealth players, but, put another detection field on top of that player with a little wider range (depending on influence). this would be the companion's own field and the player wouldn't be able to see anything in the field, instead the companion would function much like the guardsman in "disguise quests" (The ones with the red eye above their heads). Stealth players would still have that rough timer(and eye icon above the companion) just like the guardsman (Though the dog's detection timer could be reduced with influence?). I really liked this idea, because it gives players in PvP who can't/don't want to use Magelight an alternative.

For humanoid companions I thought of a few things:

"Pack-Boy/Girl": Could serve as an extra inventory storage(capacity depending on influence), possibly even taking things into town for you, selling them and returning with the gold. Plus for his/her character design there could be a quest where you send him/her to town, but he/she doesn't come back, instead was captured by bandits, or wandered off and got lost/attacked by wildlife. I personally pictured him/her something like the star-struck fan from Oblivion. lol.

I was just thinking the pets I run around with, anyone else got some cool ideas?

DerpyShadowz

I would love it if my dog brought me some woodworking mats every now and then

:>

Robotmafia

cool ideas but this kinda goes against the whole vanity pet idea

fromtesonlineb16_ESO

Robotmafia wrote: »

cool ideas but this kinda goes against the whole vanity pet idea

True, but at least it would be a variation on something rather than simply copying it verbatim.

Hirelings are a straight copy of SW:TOR's crew (and for all I know a similar mechanic in an earlier MMO) and'vanity' pets are as old as the hills, so pets that work for their living and could be leveled would at least be something you could interact with rather than simply a few mouse clicks every 12/24 hours.

Stannum

I wish dogs were barking and jumping around NPC you attack

vyndral13preub18_ESO

dancing.in.the.webeb17_ESO wrote: »

I wish dogs were barking and jumping around NPC you attack

I was thinking it would be more amusing if the dog ran up and buried their nose in the NPC's crotch.

Athas24

I would rather the pets simply be more interactive. Maybe the monkey sees the cat and they do some sort of skit or the crab is near someone's monkey pet and they mock fight each other. Just more interesting emote type things or something. Maybe the Panther roars and swipes at the enemies as you fight. Not damaging them but doing a mock fight.

bellanca6561n

vyndral13preub18_ESO wrote: »

dancing.in.the.webeb17_ESO wrote: »

I wish dogs were barking and jumping around NPC you attack

I was thinking it would be more amusing if the dog ran up and buried their nose in the NPC's crotch.

Or was humping its leg while you were fighting it.

7788b14_ESO

It would be nice if my pet could run junk into town to sell. Or at least carry a few items.

Jules

7788b14_ESO wrote: »

It would be nice if my pet could run junk into town to sell. Or at least carry a few items.

THIS^


Also, I really like this idea. I think it's thoughtful and would add a small but purposeful aspect to the game.

It's cool to imagine them having some use even if it's fairly negligible. However, you'd come into the issue of everyone running the same pet for [x] bonus so you might have to balance the pet passives lol

ShadowMage

Would be great if they could give pets a little more interactivity and utility. Unfortunately, you'll inevitably end up with people crying that Pet X is useless and that Pet Y is OP. Or that crown-store-exclusive pets with certain abilities are p2w.