Animal Companion Skill Line (World Skills)

Roneth · April 2014

I would love to see Zenimax add an Animal Companion Skill Line to World Skills. This skill line would have access to a number of different pets the player can choose from and each pet would have a unique specialization, such as:

Eagle - Detection
Bear - Tanking
Wolf - DPS

Each pet would have an extensive list of passive skills that the player can choose to invest skill points into, making them a powerful ally on the battlefield. This would reinforce the Hunter/Ranger play style that many players enjoy. Thoughts?

MoMoOG · April 2014

Only if I can have Barbas as a companion.

ChampionSheWolf · April 2014

Have to say no to this one, because sorcerers already get pets. Giving them more, having formerly been a long standing UO player, would probably just turn the game even more easy mode for them.

Ironblaze · April 2014

Good in thought. as @cbrown15_ESO‌ said, and speaking as a sorcerer, letting us have +3 pets at once is a scary thought. However, I could see a "Animal Companion" tree in a future starting class with a primal/nature/druid flavor to it.

nightwalkerrobin_ESO · April 2014

Animal companions (combat pets) for all classes were talked about by the Devs before the game released. But apparently they did not have that ready yet. Hope is gets added soon.

For those who don't like combat pets, don't use them. But don't screw the idea up for those of us who DO want them. I have never seen a pet class, or having combat pets, ever make the user OP since they had to invest points into the pet skills vs into their combat skills. It all evens out.

However there needs to be the addition of control commands for both the animal companions and sorc minions. There is an ability to target a mob (for those who don't know how, place your cursor on the mob and hit TAB, places brackets around that target) so you can send to pet to attack first. Or you can use it to distract another mob. Also AGGRESSIVE, DEFENSIVE, and PASSIVE stances for the combat pets is needed. I have already sent suggestions to the Devs, hoping they really consider this. Not having control of combat pets will make using them in dungeons and the coming raids a big problem. this is a big problem in Neverwinter and has been problems here in ESO according to several other sorcs I have talked to. I have a sorc and I hate when my pet takes off after mobs in the next room, when I am not ready for the combat yet.

TeliosMadronin · April 2014

I would be fine with this if having a pet reduced your player damage while active to maintain balance with damage output of none pet users.

Still feels too much like wow.

altrego9920_ESO · April 2014

TeliosMadronin wrote: »

I would be fine with this if having a pet reduced your player damage while active to maintain balance with damage output of none pet users.

Still feels too much like wow.

How does it not reduce your damage? you lose a skill slot for it. Even if your a sorc and have 2 pets out, then get the ability to get a third pet you now are using 3 skill slots out of 5 for pets, so you basically only have 2 skills (weapon, class or guild) Add in the fact that you have ZERO control of the pets and ... well you get the idea.

ChampionSheWolf · April 2014

altrego9920_ESO wrote: »

How does it not reduce your damage? you lose a skill slot for it. Even if your a sorc and have 2 pets out, then get the ability to get a third pet you now are using 3 skill slots out of 5 for pets, so you basically only have 2 skills (weapon, class or guild) Add in the fact that you have ZERO control of the pets and ... well you get the idea.

You don't need all your skill slots, not by a long shot, to be the most effective combat build, so yes, a pet would increase your over all damage output considerably.

nightwalkerrobin_ESO wrote:

For those who don't like combat pets, don't use them. But don't screw the idea up for those of us who DO want them. I have never seen a pet class, or having combat pets, ever make the user OP since they had to invest points into the pet skills vs into their combat skills. It all evens out.

Sorry, but I prefer balance over thematic's. Just because you want doesn't necessarily mean it is good for the health of the game. Maybe it's something they could add to the werewolf skill line, since that one desperately needs something, but we are talking about free damage and potential tanking critter over all. It's obvious Zenimax/Bethesda haven't got clue 1 about balance as they struggle to get things balanced in the game, throwing in a major monkey wrench like pets would just throw what little balance their is right out of the window.

altrego9920_ESO · April 2014

I am still trying to understand how a pet would increase damage output by that much. TBH with both my NB it would have to be pretty damn insane for me to even consider it taking up a slot on my bars. My tank is a sword and board / 2 hander spec so between the defensive options and sustains a pet would kinda not work as I am already struggling to justify certain abilities over others and the 2 hand weapon is even more so as its my damage (mostly AOE) i can swap it to be a single target but thats mostly focused on keeping the one target down or not doing anything.

On my DPS NB its even worse, its all about get in kill it and get the hell out so again justifying a pet would be almost impossible. The only people i could see getting a lot of use out of it are pure healing types or if you want to go and be an all out pet class with sorcs.

Nox_Aeterna · April 2014

Yep i support this.

While i agree sorcs already got them , they are the only class that got them atm , if anything , that is the problem.

Add this and AFTER this is added , we could talk about having 1/2 slots for perma activated skills , like the pets or mage light.

Sorcs really want this , but there is noway in hell they should add atm exactly because only sorcs benefit , if you add1/2 slots , and give enough pets , then everyone would have 1/2 skills to add to those slots , and balance would be kept.

WhiteQueen · April 2014

Well, this might be an option later on. But they have to fix healing first. As it is, the "intelligent" healing isn't very smart at all. If every other person had a pet along, I can just imagine the horror the healers would have to put up with.

ETA: For those of you who didn't know... Intelligent healing doesn't differentiate between players, summoned pets and NPCs, which is a terrible pain.

nightwalkerrobin_ESO · May 2014

Here is to hoping that combat pets for all classes is still somewhere in the plans. So far I like the game, but I did buy it for that function as it was promised earlier (well it was talked about). I know sometimes things are moved up and down the priority list and SPAMMERS and BUGS are the big priority right now. We shall see what the future holds.

smercgames_ESO · May 2014

I am good with adding companions but for the argument about it being forced to lower your dmg then I agree if they really are going to put out dmg. You only need 1 skill slot for dmg (or none if you use bash) considering most skills pretty much do the same amount of dmg anyways from what I've noticed. The only thing I would say is let me pet stealth! I love watching sorcs stealth around with combat and vanity pets following them..

Skelfish · May 2014

Scout mobs can summon an animal. It's also different depending on race. Why not make it a quest reward, like wyrd or that bosmer one in grahtwood with the totems? You pick one animal to train out of several options and you can pick skills for it that alter whether it specializes in DPs, tanking, etc.