Targetable pet

Oakiyo

Hi

It might be late to suggest that, but, well, I guess better late than never. Since this patch aim to put inline magicka and stamina setup, it might be a good opportunity to finally look at a reccurent subject : Targetable pet.

It is very frustrating in pvp for targeting (bear from the warden, the daedric zoo from the sorcs, ... even the blastbone from the necro can be annoying) and a source of unreliability in both pve and pvp.

It would be better for everybody to make these entities untargetable and unvulnerable. No more dead matriarch in the 5th maelstrom stage, no more engine gardian that take meteors in place of its owner. Blastbone would reach its target instead of being stuned, snared, killed, or just confused by everything it must interact with ... Moreover, I assume it would relieve a bit the servers to not handle the interaction of these entities.

The following entities would be concerned :
- Winged Twillight (Sorc)
- Unstable Familiar (Sorc)
- Storm Atronach ultimate (Sorc)
- Blastbone (Necro)
- Bear ultimate (Warden)
- Engine gardian (Monster set)
- Chokethorn (Monster set)

Also, an option to make these things invisibles, or less visible at least, especially when you're not the owner would be very welcome. Tanking with 3 maws of inferno in your face is a nightmare.

What do you think of this ? Did I miss one that should also be part of this list ?

Vevvev

If you're on console press and hold the right joystick while looking at the player to target the pet owner, and if you're on PC press tab by default while looking at the player to target the pet owner.

As long as your reticle after tab targeting them is pointed at the player it'll ignore whatever is in-between you and them and hit them.

Ryuvain

Like Vevvev said, there's tab targeting. Imo targetable pets make them feel like actual allies instead of just a dot. Although blastbones and engine guardian should not be targetable at all. Bear and sorc pets have to be resummoned which take a channel, and for sorc, resources.

Oakiyo

I'm not just talking about targeting issues ... And I know tab targeting, I only play solo pvp.

It's a problem in pve where your pets are very unreliable and often die. It's also a problem in pvp when you're outnumbered and the group that chase you insta kill it as soon as you resummon it. The burst heal of the sorc is a double bared skill that heal as much if not less than the burst heal of templar. And it doesn't refound magicka. It should at least be reliable.

The same goes for abilities like blastbone that is just disabled in the lag of campain like black host.

DrSlaughtr

Making them basically immortal is not a good idea. The reason why you can target them now is because they need to be interpreted or killed.

Engine guardian can be bashed to stop it's resource beam. Same for chokethorn. Why would you want to prevent this? EG already has a ridiculous up time. There has to be a counter for two sets that give a LOT of resources back.

Warden bear can be killed, forcing the player to build ultimate back up to resummon. This is there for a reason.

Sorc pets can be killed to force the sorc to miss a heal. This is there for a reason. You don't get free pet damage or pet heals without any counter.

Blastbones can be killed before detonation. This is working as intended. They do a lot of damage.

Atro can be killed to stop it from killing everyone in your team.

PuddingZebra

The only thing I'd change is blastbones. Yeah TECHNICALLY you can kill them. But youd have to be in extremely long range. And even then, is it really worth it? Tab targeting works barely at best (in PvP scenarios) and this only takes in account 1v1 situations. If anything, make it a toggle option for people to be able to target them. (Default on ofc). I'd 100% change blastbones to off.

Ryuvain

Oakiyo wrote: »

I'm not just talking about targeting issues ... And I know tab targeting, I only play solo pvp.

It's a problem in pve where your pets are very unreliable and often die. It's also a problem in pvp when you're outnumbered and the group that chase you insta kill it as soon as you resummon it. The burst heal of the sorc is a double bared skill that heal as much if not less than the burst heal of templar. And it doesn't refound magicka. It should at least be reliable.

The same goes for abilities like blastbone that is just disabled in the lag of campain like black host.

Pve que dungeons and trails pets are immortal. They made that change a while ago.

Pvp: matriarch heal is a big burst heal that hits multiple allies, has big range, and smart targeting in every direction. It has to have some kinda downside. That said, I do wish pet health could scale somehow. Their health will never change once you get into cp. Would be nice if their health and armor scaled off a percentage of the sorc so they don't insta-die.

Oakiyo

TheEndBringer wrote: »

Making them basically immortal is not a good idea. The reason why you can target them now is because they need to be interpreted or killed.

Engine guardian can be bashed to stop it's resource beam. Same for chokethorn. Why would you want to prevent this? EG already has a ridiculous up time. There has to be a counter for two sets that give a LOT of resources back.

Warden bear can be killed, forcing the player to build ultimate back up to resummon. This is there for a reason.

Sorc pets can be killed to force the sorc to miss a heal. This is there for a reason. You don't get free pet damage or pet heals without any counter.

Blastbones can be killed before detonation. This is working as intended. They do a lot of damage.

Atro can be killed to stop it from killing everyone in your team.

Lol ... These only apply when you're zerging someone down.

Using a global cooldown to interrupt the E.G to prevent him to get 2.5K ressource is in 99% of the time a waste.

Same for Chokethorn. If you wan't to balance it, make it so it really can't heal someone through walls and reduce the beam.

The warden bear have to be double bared. And for that, you have an ultimate that does a bit more damage than a crescent swipe but without the AOE dot, single target, that have a variable cast time due to the fact the bear have to travel to reach the target, ... The bear does damages, but once again, it's single target and forbid you to not have a burst or a defensive ult. People use it for the targeting decoy. Same for E.G. most of the time ...

The sorc pet also have to be double bared. Have you try to play a sorc ? You already don't have enough space to fit your burst kit, now try to free up 2 slot for one skill. You can even try to slot the second pet. You won't have a lot to work with then. This is already the reason why you can pretend having 2 things that does damage over time freely. It shouldn't also be a wall when you're outnumbering someone and 2/4 useless slots when you're outnumbered. As for the abilities of these pets, the matriarch heals for the same as the templar but you don't get back magicka, and the dot of the familiar does about the same damage as elemental wall. Is it really a problem ? If it is, you can balance it through battle spirit and reduce the damage of permanent summoned pet.

For the atro, if you have the option and the time to kill it, once again, you're zerging someone down. It would take at least 3 or 4 global cooldown if you're heavily setup into damage. You could have done better with these seconds : Heal the personn that is pressured, damage someone, rez someone, buff your team, ... Also, this thing doesn't attack through walls, is single target, have a range limit, and cost 170 ult (184 in general right now since most of people use stage 3 vampirism). It shouldn't also be a wall.

And for the blastbone. Well, once again, if you can waste 2 global cooldown to kill it before it reach you, considering pet takes basically not damage from AOE direct abilities and it can be casted every 3/4 seconds, you're outnumbering someone.

xylena_lazarow

Tab targeting doesn't properly work in PvP. Your attacks will still randomly hit pets. Ideally we'd get a "prevent attacking pets" option similar to how we have a "prevent attacking innocents" option.

katorga

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

Tab targeting doesn't properly work in PvP. Your attacks will still randomly hit pets. Ideally we'd get a "prevent attacking pets" option similar to how we have a "prevent attacking innocents" option.

You do realize that players have the same mechanic? I'm trying to burst Player A down, and Player B else gets in the way and takes the hit. It is why aoe burst builds are so good.

Targetting a pet is an easy way to bomb a group. Kill the pet and start the plaguebreak bomb rolling.

Personally I think Sorcs and wardens will be stronger with untargetable pets.


Oh, for the sake of all that is good, reduce the Matriarch to the size of a flying non-combat pet.

Vevvev

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

Tab targeting doesn't properly work in PvP. Your attacks will still randomly hit pets. Ideally we'd get a "prevent attacking pets" option similar to how we have a "prevent attacking innocents" option.

It's worked properly for me for months ever since I learned about it. Players are just more unpredictable in their movements and add into the fact that a player does actually have a hitbox that dictates how the targeting system works. Now people entering stealth and invisibility will break the lockon, but Sorcs and Wardens don't exactly go invisible at will very often... if ever.

xylena_lazarow

Vevvev wrote: »

It's worked properly for me for months ever since I learned about it.

Some always claim that, but poor position tracking and lag say otherwise for many players, like when your crosshairs are on the player, they're tab targeted, and your dragon leap still fires sideways at an Engine Guardian...

Not even asking to completely remove pet targeting, just the option to avoid it. Yes I've played pet builds, Engine + clannfear on a stamsorc, it was oppressive 1v1 but the pets do nothing to hold back a zerg.

etchedpixels

Oakiyo wrote: »

What do you think of this ? Did I miss one that should also be part of this list ?

Pets have to be targetable, Clueless pet sorrceror pets are an essential source of heavy attack regen in PvP. There are also skills that can target friendly pets.