Creature Handler Archive

Message Edited by teanmili on 07-19-2005 09:37 AM

Message Edited by teanmili on 07-19-2005 09:40 AM

Message Edited by REALbp1 on 07-19-2005 10:29 AM

With regards to the old MOB pulling tactic going byebye, it's sad to see it go. But I'm not going to discount the new system until I give it a go for a bit. I mean, it sounds like you can still pull; you just have to be more selective on which ones to pull when there's a bunch of them, and consider your attack angle when you send the pet in to pull so you don't pull more than you can handle. And of course, it means telling your pet to come back a lot more so you can reel in the MOB.

I used the pet pull once in P19 on a picket lair in a small group, and promptly stopped using. It felt -- for hunting -- like an exploit to me.

I can understand how CH/artisans would find the ability useful, as they don't have enough CLs to drive off or survive social critters from their harvesters, etc. However, I must say I felt the pulling ability of CHs in hunting groups was a bit ... overpowered ... compared to the other members in the group.

But then again, I donno nuttin'.

Okies, I field tested this today on Ahazi.

I took a "neutral" faction mission (dread pirate camp), level 78, and went out to it. Called the gaping spider hunter, sent it in on the nearest NPC (who was as they tend to do very close to another one) and once the GSH got within its ranged attack range, aggro was established and the single NPC was sucessfully pulled. I then engaged the NPC with pistol (intimdate and bodyshot) and dispatched it pretty much as I have been since the CU. The pet maintained aggro pretty much the way it did before the publish as well, the hate only shifting to me after I'd donea lot of damage with bodyshot. Neither the pet nor I came anywhere near close to incapacitation.

The 'your mileage may vary' caveat is that I used a pet with a ranged attack to do this, and it pulled an NPC sucessfully.

Now, mind you, I haven't tried this with one of thoseherds ofmore than a dozen pikets on Dantooine yet, that may come later today, and I'll post my experiences with that later. Also will have to experiment with a melee only pet to see if it draws multiple aggro from NPCs or social critters, AND if said targets ignore the pet and come to me.

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SioBabble wrote:

Okies, I field tested this today on Ahazi.

I took a "neutral" faction mission (dread pirate camp), level 78, and went out to it. Called the gaping spider hunter, sent it in on the nearest NPC (who was as they tend to do very close to another one) and once the GSH got within its ranged attack range, aggro was established and the single NPC was sucessfully pulled. I then engaged the NPC with pistol (intimdate and bodyshot) and dispatched it pretty much as I have been since the CU. The pet maintained aggro pretty much the way it did before the publish as well, the hate only shifting to me after I'd donea lot of damage with bodyshot. Neither the pet nor I came anywhere near close to incapacitation.

The 'your mileage may vary' caveat is that I used a pet with a ranged attack to do this, and it pulled an NPC sucessfully.

Now, mind you, I haven't tried this with one of thoseherds ofmore than a dozen pikets on Dantooine yet, that may come later today, and I'll post my experiences with that later. Also will have to experiment with a melee only pet to see if it draws multiple aggro from NPCs or social critters, AND if said targets ignore the pet and come to me.

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*crosses fingers*

I don't use pets anymore but even with a gun, my experience is that NPCs are much easier to single-pull and manage aggro from, than creatures. Which is kind of the reverse of how I would expect it (shouldn't humans/rodians/wookiees be smarter than giant spiders and giraffes?). I'd be interested to see how this would work on a lair of level 82 bols or something.

C

heres a little info for you.. tihs "exploit" your talking about could have been done with any pet (non-CH included) and droids... so any mofo could do this.. yes it was an exploit becuase everyone could do it, but for us CH it served a purpose mainly because pet tanking went out the window in the CU.

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enigma_writer wrote:

Theorb

I do not agree we are doomed but that our profession is very close to becoming Broken without repair. I say broken because the devs have been promising to fix us since the combat upgrade was first discussedandwill continue to have FAITH that we will be fixed.

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I had my cat fixed. He doesn't spray anymore and he isn't gonna add to the pet population. I say he is fixed. He says "game over." It is all perception.

I cannot think of any game I've played that pulling is not a viable tactic. Adding a range enhancement to a power in order to pull from a greater distance, being able to fly in order to limit the mob ganking for a melee class, using a group hold to limit the number of mob members running up to attack. All of these tactics are present in nearly every game out there. Why in the world would any developer consider pulling an exploit when every developed game present and past made use of this tactic? This question is the basis of all the recent pet changes, tanking and pulling.

It is genuinely mind boggling the mentality the SOE developers have taken to this game as a whole. If you have fun, enjoy the game. If you do not find it worth the monthly payment, then do what I've done, give your credits to your guild and move on to something that better suits your play style. Ranting and raving will do absolutely nothing to change the game, unless you're a BH or Jedi of course.

I can understand a pet not being able to pull a mob unless its in aggro range. That was an AI issue, and it was never intended that pets be able to pull mobs from 70m away. I wish we still could, but it didn't really make a lot of sense so I'm ok with that.

I can understand that if a pet dies that the mob will then attack the CH. Not unreasonable, combat should be risky.

However, it's nearly a game breaking issue for our profession thatthe entire lairwill now attack the CH when the pet attacks the lair. Well, maybe I'm a bit guilty of hyperbole, but this is going to prove to be a serious detriment to CH. I have to wonder if we will be able to play solo when attacking higher level lairs. I don't mean lairs that are higher CL than our character, but lairs simply at or near our own level (assuming CL 80). Will we be able tosurvive at allunless we're in a group? I don't see how it's possible if we're going to get ganged by the entire lair every time we send in our pets to attack. Seriously, anyone have any strategies for taking on 3 or more mobs in the CL 78-CL 81 range at the same time? Or how about NPCs with ranged weapons?

This effectively eliminates the role of pets as tanks. In fact, I'm trying to think of what role a pet plays now except to provide a bit more extra damage. So much for the mythical versatility of the CH profession.

The thing is that as a Master Pistoleer, if I pick my targets carefully, I can pull single mobs. I would think that a Rifleman could pull single mobs even more easily (easy being a relative term of course). Or has that changed, too? I haven't been on since update. Is it now the case where if any professionattacks a single mob from a lair that the whole mob will go aggro? That would just about eliminate the ability to play solo for everyone.

I really don't like the pulling being "fixed". That means no more remote pulling with the pet to avoid many aggro.

Well it has been said that the DEVs don't want *ANYONE* to be able to solo anymore. maybe they are getting close but it is really hard to group with all the social areas (cantina, starport etc) empty now.

-Indene-