Pet AI and commanding pets.

Tapio75

been playing Warden and Sorcerer.. Sorcerer quite a bit actually over the years, and my overall impression of pets is, that they are not very good at what they are doing.

I do love the Sorc pets utility spells though, but they could very well be just separate healing spells that dont really feel connected to the pets othewr than visuals and the tooltip. In general, the pets feel more like a passive DPS tool than anything else, and that damage could easily be added to those spells as an applied dot that lasts to the end of battle.

When commanded, the pet attacks the enemy i command them, but if i then attack another enemy, they change target automatically and there is no way i can prevent this.. At least no way i know.

The bear could be nice roleplay addition to my character, but not as long as its only restricted to be bear.. No wolves for werewolf chareacters or senches for Khajit.. This one misses Cobani.

Well, in positive side, this ai seems pretty good for Necromancer zombies

Anyway. i think the toolset should be mad ebetter. The pets should have some more abilities they use themselves AND also and UI where one can turtn them on or off.. Or drag them as manual skills to the action bar IF one wishes. The way command works needs to be better. If i command a pet, it should attack that target as it does and stay on that target until i command otherwise. For the bear, the actual first attack may sometimes take pretty long to happen. There should be a way to add some threat generation to tanky pets, which one can turn on or off at will. This should also be the first action the pet does when commanded to attack.

Pets should also have some stats, which one could tweak like we now can choose where to place health/damage/stamina and they should them contrbute to pet abilities.

i am sure there are many other things how pets can be improved, having more choice in what to use as Warden or have more than those basic daedra for the sorc. Discuss.

Nestor

Just to make sure, your using the Y key then clicking on the mob you want them to engage? I have not done Pet play in several months, but I do remember my pets staying on target. This was with the Clanfear/Unstable Familiar or Bear. I could never get the Matriarch to stick to one target.

Drayza

You can change the target of your pet by heavy-attacking it, jfyi.

It is a very slow way to command them though and I would appreciate a command bar for the pets (simple attack, stay, unsummon would be cool).

Unfortunately... I don't think they will implement it.

stewhead2ub17_ESO

I agree with you, OP.

codestripper

So basically, as long as you don't heavy attack anything else, they will stay on that first target. HOWEVER, a pet sorc's rotation is based on heavy attacks....so....yeah there's not really a way to get them to be static on a target.

I would also appreciate a better UI or at least a pet bar like every other MMO

Tapio75

@Nestor

Yes. This is what i do.. However..

Drayza wrote: »

You can change the target of your pet by heavy-attacking it, jfyi.

It is a very slow way to command them though and I would appreciate a command bar for the pets (simple attack, stay, unsummon would be cool).

Unfortunately... I don't think they will implement it.

..This exåplains it. Who the heck implemented this kind of command mechanism? Commands should be completely separate of character attacks and abilities with exeption pet abilities. Its bad to begin with to have just ONE key for pet actions, let alone have the oet tied to attacks i do. There is this command pet ablity which is used and should be used as only way to command pet, not a sword.

codestripper wrote: »

So basically, as long as you don't heavy attack anything else, they will stay on that first target. HOWEVER, a pet sorc's rotation is based on heavy attacks....so....yeah there's not really a way to get them to be static on a target.

I would also appreciate a better UI or at least a pet bar like every other MMO

yea. When i use lightning staff, i always just keep heavy attacking and add abilities in between them. Same with warden frost staff, to ease the damage load, i would like to command that bear to attack some specific mob which is low threat to me while i keep the shield up with frost staff heavy attacks and slay the casters or healers etc first.

Besides to keep resources up, one needs to heavy attack.

Seraphayel

Drayza wrote: »

You can change the target of your pet by heavy-attacking it, jfyi.

It is a very slow way to command them though and I would appreciate a command bar for the pets (simple attack, stay, unsummon would be cool).

Unfortunately... I don't think they will implement it.

You cannot use it on consoles, that's why we won't get one.

Tapio75

Seraphayel wrote: »

Drayza wrote: »

You can change the target of your pet by heavy-attacking it, jfyi.

It is a very slow way to command them though and I would appreciate a command bar for the pets (simple attack, stay, unsummon would be cool).

Unfortunately... I don't think they will implement it.

You cannot use it on consoles, that's why we won't get one.

Even with one button, they can add many more commands than just attack. Press command pet button with some other button to change different options on pets, or do an UI where you can change settings and abilities. Everything can be done with consoles as well. How do you thin all the combinations with Tekken do all these numerous different attacks there is.. The same way heavy attacks could be improved to have combo attacks like in Skyrim.

Seraphayel

It's really not working. I don't know how they would layout it on consoles.

Final Fantasy XIV can handle 40 skills at once because there you can use L and R to switch between button mappings, that's something you cannot do on console ESO because L is block and R is weapon attack.

And there is no free button that could allow changing between button mappings.

Garamant

Agree with you too OP...

There is a lot of potential. Would find it much more interesting, if pets could get your enemies into real trouble in PvE and PvP.
Would also be much more challenging and fun fighting against them, if they were "trained" to guarding/stunning/bleeding etc. or some sort of behaviour... but is it is now, they are just snipe catchers, a bit of a stat boost or AI aggro pulls but nothing to fear really.

Also would be alot of effort for the devs to plan, balance etc...

paulychan

On console, heavy attacks are the only way to direct pets. It doesn't work very well though. I look at the damage I getbfrom having the pet and ask myself if in actually seeing it in game play. I really don't often enough so I recently respeced to no pet. You leave a tin of damage on the table, on paper, and enjoy more consistency

Zathras

Based off this discussion on the topic, I'd reiterate that while I agree an improved command set would be a huge improvement, it isn't going to happen.

All they have done is simplify the AI further and further over the years. Now, in some content, pets can't even be killed. Pathing, fragility, and general AI have been challenges that have not been meaningfully expanded on since the game launched.

So, given that, I can't see them making a command system that would complicate a system they are actively dumbing down.

I think consoles are part of the issue. However, there are other ways to make a pet system more robust than with improved AI and a new command bar. For instance, pet specific CPs, and improved skill lines.

My caveat here, like in the previous discussion, is that I love pet classes in other MMOs. ESO's pet system is a pale shadow to what has been seen before in other games. It isn't their focus, and it shows.

Nestor

What I have done with pets is throw an Encase at the mobs. The Pet then picks one of the mobs to attack, and the others stay rooted. I then engage the other mobs with skills and light attacks. This divides up the mobs between us and does not require a target command.

Tapio75

While consoles and the amount of buttons consoles usually have to do various stuff, it is in no way limiting in this matter. As i said before, the one and only button we currently have, can have many commands when combined with other buttons and settings thart can be changed with that single button as well..

Meanwhile, PC can have all the same stuff but have more robust system via controls mapping to have separate keys to these actions if so chose.

I dont know the coding limitations of consoles, but today they are prety close to PC, but have less power in general and less capabilities, soit can be limiting but should still allow pretty robust system..

Naturally they could also choose to make PC version more robust. Separate from consoles completely. It is what PC version deserves and is capable of..

SWTOR has basically the same engine with its own tweaks. ESO also has Hero engine with its own tweaks but SWTOR shows, that pets CAN have much more options on them if so chosen.