Creature Handler Archive

Thread: CH Revamp Proposal (please read and give opinion):

FuzzyWookie
Tue Jul 22, 2003 3:26 pm
#1

I'll first off say, i'm a novice creature handler, and i havent played very much with pets just yet. So if any of my information is incorrect, I apologize. Also sorry if i've "stolen" anyones ideas. I'm sure someone has said at least once what i'm about to say.



RevampedRealisticCreature System:



OnethingI believe could solve many of the CH problems is pet maintenance. Why would a pet that you never play with and never feed fight for you? you send it into battle time after time without rewarding it at all for it's ferocity, and it gallops back to you like a goon ready to go again... ??? Pet Maintenance could be the key to revamping the pet system to make it viable to keeping more powerful pets. My idea:


Maintenance Idea:



Pets should have a happiness meter of sorts (perhaps one for food, one for entertainment). Once this meter falls below a certain point, the creature becomes resistant to obeying commands (you might have to tell it 2-3 times to do something before it does). Then, have another point where the creature stops responding at all. Then, a third point where the creature will either leave or become hostile towards its owner (depending on the aggressiveness of the creature). To maintain this meter, a pet would need entertainment and food. A Rancor, for example, would require a LOT more food than smaller creatures to maintain... thus it's more expensive and harder to maintain. Entertainment would be the pet tricks that you learn along the way (of course there will have to be one given at Novice CH for thisto work right), or perhaps even give crafters a line of pet toys they can create.Not only will this create a higher cost on owning bigger pets, but it will create more work for crafters/chefs (who need more clients as is)


How this will help the CH system:



Reducing the power of creatures to that of players is a little drastic IMHO. I understand there needs to be a reduction, but not that drastic. To see a fully grown Rancor on the same level as a player is VERY disappointing IMHO. Here's what we're achieving:



  1. Low Level creature handlers will rarely be able to afford the maintenance of high lvl creatures. I agree with the cert program, but this could be used in its place, or in conjunction with.
  2. Pet stats can stay higher than players. Higher the stats, the higher the maintenance. Will prevent someone from having 8 fully grown Rancors to play with... unless they can afford them, which should be a rarity. This way, CH's retain their power, but at a growing cost depending on how powerful they want to be. As it stands, there is no cost at all to wielding great pet power.
  3. This system will also act as a pet decay (something that many people have voiced a need for). As a pet is abused, it will disobey and eventually leave its master.

Decay Idea:



In conjunction with this, another realism i'd like to see is pet decay. Pets die not only in battle, but from old age. I'd like to see a system where CH's develop their pets over a1-2 week period to full growth, and the have a good 2-3 month period where the creature maintains it's fully grown stats. It will begin its decay at a point defined by how well the creature is maintained over it's lifetime. If it's happiness bars stay relatively high throughout its life, it will live longer than a pet that is abused/neglected from time to time. Once decay beings, it will basically do one of two thing (this i need an opinion on):




    1. Revert to Infancy where the pets starts over (this way you dont have to cope with the death of a pet, nor the hassel of finding a new one) or.....
    2. Eventually die... that's so sad tho

How this well help SWG:



This will help in a couple ways. First of all, it will cleanse the world of high powered pets from time to time so the chance of a shift of power between players exists. Secondly, It will force CH's to actually work for the power they desire. With every profession comes work. Right now, your power comes way too easily.



I'm gonna leave it at that for now. I'd like to hear the faults to this system, your opinion, additions, and even your flames on the system i've written up. Let me know whatcha think. I'd really like to see something in game that makes a bit more sense than what the devs are proposing.



FW

Ylusyon
Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:00 pm
#2
Karika Vampyr

Bloodfin

Unguilded

TKM, MD


I was CH once... 4/2/2/4 and I dropped it! I was too upset with the way that revamp and changes came to the profession. I have always wanted to be a CH in all the games that I have played, every single one! The original idea of having pets grow much bigger than those of it's race with good care i.e. feeding, was an awesome one which somehow phased out! I trully like the idea posted above! I don't know if that would make me go back to CH but it will definately give me something to think about. Great idea overall, very well thought out!



(gggggggggggggggxnnnnnnnnnnnnnxggggggggggggggg)
Karika Vampyr Jedi Padawan
Imperial Colonel
Guild: Reign
(gggggggggggggggxnnnnnnnnnnnnnxggggggggggggggg)
Nayexi
Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:40 pm
#3
Im sorry but not only do we have to contend with Auto Storing - Pets Running Away and their severe lack to hold their own against enemies you want to turn them into Giant Tamigotchis?


I want my pet to fight and to win and help me win battles, not topester me for food and a trip to the cinema because it needs entertaining.


When my pets can kill a kreetle or a dwarff Nuna without running away then and only then will i be happy.


Nayexi



Bring Back Creature Handlers!
BlindTyldak
Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:53 pm
#4
While pet care can work (you had to feed your pets in UO, it's not that bad) I don't think this idea would fly for two major reasons: first, money is not that hard to come by, especially for advanced players. I know people with millions just sitting there because they don't have anything to do with it. Your idea rewards the uber players with more pets than anyone could possibly need, while ensuring that the new player has a near impossible time getting to that level.


Second, it doesn't address what the real problem was. The problem wasnot as muchwith the power of the pets, it was with the pet/combat combos. Excepting the big combos like the graul maulers, pets on their own were not that bad. But add that decent rancor to a flame thrower and there was a major issue. After the combat reballance, we're either going to see the same problem again, or we're going to see that we're relegated to being useless forever.


I still say the solution is to make it cost more skill points. It's the one thing that can't be duped or exploited, and puts everyone on an equal ground. That way you can pick what you want to to, be strong with a pet or strong with a weapon, but not be invincible with both.
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