Creature Handler Archive

I agree 100%. They did take too much away to call us an 'effective' solo combat prof. I would call us a 'support' role now. That does not mean we are like a Tailor or Chef, no it does not. We use our pets for SUPPORT. Against High or Medium end mobs, the pets NEED us to deal the major damage. On paper, we might look like just another combat prof, but we are not.

-15 seconds to bring out a pet, with combat stopping it. In order to bring out a persons max number of pets, you are waiting 45 secs, with combat stopping it. Against a medium or high end creature, I cannot see the use in bringing out anything less than a lvl 40 Delerious Merek Avenger because of its high HAM vs kinetic. Anything less is just a quick loss of vitality. Is the possibility of getting extra states on something really worth it? No, not likely.

-Unable to bring out pets DURING combat. If this was a persons SOLE 'combat' prof, what would happen if they were on a speederbike, and they got knocked off it? All those skill points would be wasted because it is during combat.

-Pets being subject to ingame 'bugs'. I have had pets get stuck in the side of a mountain, stuck engaged combat with something that was dead, disappear on me while I am in combat, and the latest and greatest, running off to attack the nearest thing. The ONLY pets I can safely bring out now, are my Gurrecks. If I bring out anything else, they go running off and attack whatever is out there. I should not have to spam a macro to keep them in line. With these 'bugs', it severly limits our capabilities.

-limited amount of pets to tame. Our max lvl is 70, yet the closest creature that comes to that lvl is the Bull Ranc.

-what profession do we have to up first? scout. what 'combat' bonuses do we get with scout? I believe A +10 to hit animals, and that is it. What does scout have to do with combat? They have traps, if you go up that branch, that will effect some creatures, and the +10 to hit creatures. If you take Rifleman/Pistoleer, yes, you will not be able to use a pistol and rifle at the same time, however, you can still use the benefits to dodge, and other benefits regardless of which weapon you use. To make CH, you pretty much NEED a combat class to begin with. I am going up rifles, I have not used any of my pistols.

-If you buff a pet, and store it, the buff goes away, this even applies to pet buff food. Why? If I get a buff, and leave the planet, it stays with me. If I take a shot of brandy, and leave the planet, it stays with me, heck, i can even get disconnected, and will be under the influence when I reconnect.

Now, this might seem like I am putting CH in a negative light. In reality, I am not. It is a great profession, it really is. I am just pointing out a few things that set us aside from the other 'combat' professions. Reasons that make me believe we are something other than them. I believe we are one of the best professions in the game. When we hit Master, the fun just begins. When you hit Master of many of the other profs, it is nice, you might get a few benefits, but no where the amount of options open up to us.

Oh, I heartily agree on more. I would LOVE to get a Mire Maurader amound others. Variety would be a good.

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hossp wrote:
whatever ch was when the game first want online, it isn't now, and never will be again..

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I'm all for more content as well but I still havn't heard a single good reason for why CH *shouldn't* be on temrs with other combat proffesions. The only reasons I can think of for why it isn't as things stand could all be dealt with by my proposal.

I'm all for more content as well but I still havn't heard a single good reason for why CH *shouldn't* be on temrs with other combat proffesions. The only reasons I can think of for why it isn't as things stand could all be dealt with by my proposal.



No one is saying that it should not be on terms with the rest of the combat profs. We are at the point that we are at now, because of major nerfing. They tore the CH prof apart and made it what it is now.

I would rather have them increase what we can tame.
Get rid of the timer.
Allow us to bring out pets during combat.
Get rid of vitality.
Change the number of pets we can bring out. I would rather they increase it to where it is viable. As a Master of any profession, a person is going to start going after bigger and better things. With this in mind, I would much rather be able to bring out 90 for pet levels. That way, they can actually last a while in combat. As it stands now, if i am hunting on Dath, and I want more than one pet, they are NOT going to last long. At least with something like 90 for pet levels, they could actually last a few battles. After seeing lvl 20 pets get their HAMs tore apart in a few hits is not a good feeling. It would be so much better to bring out a gurreck and a delerious merek avenger.

I agree with most of those points although I don't feel they are that relevant to my original idea. The idea is aimed more at increasing the DPS of CH to be on par with other proffesions, which, even with lvl90 pets and more pets called at once it would not be. I alo agree that pets need to be able to last longer in combat however m post was aimed more at how to keep CH balanced while increasing it's DPS to a reasonable level.

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velm wrote:
See, here is the problem, the CH still pretty much NEEDS a combat prof. I like to go to Dath and play, what you are suggesting would eliminate my T-21. There are also times when I go to to lok and met up with a kimoglia, and that pet is going DOWN! Yes, a few of my pets have suffered vitality loss due to Kimos. Even in a group, the best that a pet can do is act as a distraction and possibly apply a few states. They NEED us with our COMBAT prof to hit the high end stuff where it hurts. They cannot pierce that armor and res and still be effective. Pets, do not do all that much damage against high end creatures. The pets get tore up with me looking at my whip wishing it were my T-21.

This is why I have suggested such a change should only be implemented if pets are brought on par DPS wise and defense wise with other combat proffesions. The suggestion is simply an idea to prevent a repeat of the situation which led to the nerf.

Again, what am I supposed to do when I am holding this whip in my hand, and my pet poofs out of existance? I now have to spend precious time switching to my T-21.

Well that is just a bug which needs to be adressed and is seperate from this idea.

I would rather have those other simple fixes installed for sake of ease and gameplay.

I'm all for simple fixes to achieve reasonable results quicker however with the CU in the throws of develpment (apparently) maybe we should look for a more ambitous solution which the devs might consider implementing during an overhaul of the combat system which otherwise would be deemed as being too resource intensive to be feasalbe.

Now, you might counter by saying 'but then you will be using two combat professions at once.' Well, yes, you are right. I most certainly am. Then again, just about all combat professions use different parts of each other at the same time. Take the dodge bonus from a Fencer/Pistoleer, and those other bonuses, they don't care what you have in your hand, you are still dodging. By dodging, you are avoiding damage, thereby lasting longer in combat.As a CH we do not have that luxery of combining those abilities.

Dodge only works when holding a one handed melee weapon or pistol weapon not when using completely unrelated skills. It is said this will be removed in the CU. You would only get the mods granted by your skills with the weapon you have equipped. Sure, we dont get to stack bonuses but we do get to stack DPS and HAM (in essence) My point is that I feel CH should be brought back to pre nerf levels BUT something needs to be done to prevent the DPS stacking as it was really out of balance. This is what my suggestion would achieve.

Yes, I get to add my pet's damage to mine in combat. How much is it? The Toxic Merek Battlelord is: 370-450 for damage. That is a little bit more than a PUP for my weapon.

Again, my proposal is an idea to balance pets if they were brought back to pre nerf levels and therefore viable as a solo combat proffesion. If you choose to fight with your weapon you still get a tank and a small increase in DPS for your skill point investment.

So, I call it a far trade, being able to use pets and my other combat prof at the same time for not getting any dodge bonuses, or bounes vs dizzy/stuned/posture change, you name it.

That's your choice but those of us who wish to use CH on its own simply do not have the choice. This proposal would allow the choice of both playstyles if pets were also brought back to prenerf levels.

How much more powerful would this CH 'only' prof be? that is the question? It is hard to imagine it being up to par with the other combat professions by just its very nature. Again, we are limited by our pets being bugged. So, do I want a bugged super pet without a T-21 at hand, or a bugged pet with a T-21 in hand?

It wouldnt be a CH "only" proffesion. If you re read my originalpost carefully you will see that you could choose to fight alongside your pets with them having a DPS relatively equal to their current DPS (but pre nerf defenses hopefully) OR you could choose to guide your pets in combat, allowing them to use more powerful specials hopefully giving them a DPS roughly equal (again relatively) to other combat proffesions.

Actually, having two Delerious Merek Avengers out would be a tremendous help, they are lvl 40 creatures with an effective HAM of around 38,000 against kinetic. I could have two of them, or a Toxic Merek Battlelord out, which is 45. The TMB has around 36,000 vs kin. The combined damage output for both of them would be around 640-900 pts of dam. This would really make a difference, mostly against mid range things. Against high end things, well, a bit of a different story. Will this happen? nope.

When you consider attack speed and to-hit this is still apitifully low DPS than other combat proffesions. As you rightly pointed out however, it would still be a great help in mid end content when fighting with a weapon. Now if you could command your pets to use attacks with dmg modifiers, armour piercing attacks, working states, poisons and diseases would you not consider this very useful in group hunting in high end content (it is intended to be fought in groups afterall)

Message Edited by velm on 03-14-2005 11:22 PM

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See, here is the problem, the CH still pretty much NEEDS a combat prof. I like to go to Dath and play, what you are suggesting would eliminate my T-21. There are also times when I go to to lok and met up with a kimoglia, and that pet is going DOWN! Yes, a few of my pets have suffered vitality loss due to Kimos. Even in a group, the best that a pet can do is act as a distraction and possibly apply a few states. They NEED us with our COMBAT prof to hit the high end stuff where it hurts. They cannot pierce that armor and res and still be effective. Pets, do not do all that much damage against high end creatures. The pets get tore up with me looking at my whip wishing it were my T-21. Again, what am I supposed to do when I am holding this whip in my hand, and my pet poofs out of existance? I now have to spend precious time switching to my T-21.

I would rather have those other simple fixes installed for sake of ease and gameplay. Now, you might counter by saying 'but then you will be using two combat professions at once.' Well, yes, you are right. I most certainly am. Then again, just about all combat professions use different parts of each other at the same time. Take the dodge bonus from a Fencer/Pistoleer, and those other bonuses, they don't care what you have in your hand, you are still dodging. By dodging, you are avoiding damage, thereby lasting longer in combat. As a CH we do not have that luxery of combining those abilities. Yes, I get to add my pet's damage to mine in combat. How much is it? The Toxic Merek Battlelord is: 370-450 for damage. That is a little bit more than a PUP for my weapon. So, I call it a far trade, being able to use pets and my other combat prof at the same time for not getting any dodge bonuses, or bounes vs dizzy/stuned/posture change, you name it.

How much more powerful would this CH 'only' prof be? that is the question? It is hard to imagine it being up to par with the other combat professions by just its very nature. Again, we are limited by our pets being bugged. So, do I want a bugged super pet without a T-21 at hand, or a bugged pet with a T-21 in hand?

Actually, having two Delerious Merek Avengers out would be a tremendous help, they are lvl 40 creatures with an effective HAM of around 38,000 against kinetic. I could have two of them, or a Toxic Merek Battlelord out, which is 45. The TMB has around 36,000 vs kin. The combined damage output for both of them would be around 640-900 pts of dam. This would really make a difference, mostly against mid range things. Against high end things, well, a bit of a different story. Will this happen? nope.

Message Edited by velm on 03-14-2005 11:22 PM