Creature Handler Archive
Thread: Survey: Do you really use all your pets in your datapad?
Page 1 of 3
VempireX
Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:30 am
#1
While reading someones post about "do you/we really need more then 22 pets storage?" i started thinking "Do i? And do i use them in combat or do i have them just for having them?"
My answer was: No, i haven't usedmost of my pets or even had them out of the datapad sincethey grew up fully.And i have most of them just because they had nice stats and design. Tame-O-holic here, can't passby a baby without getting the "omghowsweetiwantit"-feeling
But in the end they just live in a can.
But in the end they just live in a can. Sadly,i have to admit,irarely use most of them, i onlypull outmy 2 bile-drenched quenkers just for fun and company. I have never used my Graul Mauler and my Rancor aided me only once with wiping out a kaadu lair. My 2 mounts have never been used too, due to faster travel with a swoop.My Rav. Torton and Malkloc are just showoff pets without much combat value.
I will probably wipe out half of my datapad and really keep only the pets i have a use for or are part of my character. My 2 BDQ's will stay because they are my favourite pets and some of the better pets like my Arachne Webmaster will stay too. I will try to get some of the rare (and good) ones too like the Bull Rancor and the GPS, and prolly 2 BE'd CL35 pets with a nice special combo for PVP and endgame mobs/dungeons.
That will leave me room for taming and training non-CH pets and mounts. Sure it would be nice to be able to either have more datapad space or a stable. But that is not the issue in this survey.
I just would like to know how many of you with a (almost) full datapad really use most of your pets regularly or are you just the collector type?
MrHawat
Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:38 am
#2
Actually, you could use the same argument to argue for more datapad space. Since 90% of what people have in their datapad is for show and not combat, allowing them to hold more pets would not affect game play because what is the difference between 22 useless pets and 44? It would be like limiting the schematics I can hold to 22. The only one it bothers is the crafter and he can move them into a storage droid.
Freth
Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:42 am
#3
One must look at what pets mean to them to answer this question.
If you have pets for backup during a fight then chances are you have a few fighters, a few novelty pets and a few mounts. If you're using your pets for entertainment and mounts then you may just use every pet in your datapad.
Back in March/April when I dropped CH completely, I stocked my datapad with low level pets I could use without CH skill. Why? Because I enjoy the pets themselves, not whether they can help me in a fight. (I used to care, but not anymore) So, it depends on the person and how they perceive CH. I enjoy my low level pets and have every mount available to a non-CH. I filled my datapad full so that I would have companions and I use them all. 
Message Edited by Freth on 09-13-2004 08:42 AM
jopenack
Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:09 am
#4
Actually I do
I use about 3/4 of them for ombat switching them out on high combat days, depending on statson npc's or creatures I choose pets with resistance and ham properties that best suits the situation.
The rest are either for show or mounts. I find mounts very useful hunting tamables it gives the server time to load the lairs before I pass them and I also enjoy strolling planets with my mounts.
Got aBE kimog. I use for show in my city hes big and new players love him. I also pull him out on tat sometimes during PVP hesthe perfectdistraction there. I wont send him in to attack and usually store him before i fire, but the opposing faction usually pauses thinking a Krayt is attacking allowing my comrads to get a few blows in early lol.
occasionally i tame a pet I never use because its cool or im bored but in a week or so I let him go for the space. I would love more space in datapad for some rare show pets I find it hard to keep some because the combat pets take a priority with me.
EttaBrummi
Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:26 am
#5
Yes i really do Well to be exact, i use two of my six pets (a "natural" prowling gurreck with high kinetic resists 
and my beloved BE gurreck Catherine. The rest is, as Jopenack already said, just for show (like the Kimo). And sometimes i use the gurreck (i still have no name for him 
and my perlek ravager to build a single solo group to raise the mission reward a little bit ...
Well to be exact, i use two of my six pets (a "natural" prowling gurreck with high kinetic resists and my beloved BE gurreck Catherine. The rest is, as Jopenack already said, just for show (like the Kimo). And sometimes i use the gurreck (i still have no name for him and my perlek ravager to build a single solo group to raise the mission reward a little bit ...
digiwrath
Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:28 am
#6
certain animals that i have are too valuable/irreplacable to get rid of, but not good enough to use except as a showpiece. a few examples being extinct animals such asmy plodding falumpaset, my massive gnort, and my domestic tusk cat. all 3 of them can't do a damn thing in battle, but i can't simply dump them as i'd be hard pressed to find them again in the future, if i even can at all.
HoundMB
Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:29 am
#7
The difference is that the pets take up database space on the servers. You can see from recent steps including the e-mail system changes, merchant changes, mob spawns, etc. that they are scrambling to find space to hold everything.
Compare this game to say DAOC, where you can maybe have 100 items total between your character and your house, and you can see that the databases that make up this game must be HUGE. Trying to strike a balance between character desires and game playability is surely tough, but if it means less lag/better performance, I could stand things as they are now.
digiwrath
Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:34 am
#8
HoundMB wrote:
The difference is that the pets take up database space on the servers. You can see from recent steps including the e-mail system changes, merchant changes, mob spawns, etc. that they are scrambling to find space to hold everything.
it's not that they don't have space. they have plenty of money to afford that.
the problem is that their database is, quite frankly, a piece of crap. and it has problems managing all the data that's in it, so they're slimming it down and hoping things improve.
SioBabble
Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:03 am
#9
digiwrath wrote:
HoundMB wrote:
The difference is that the pets take up database space on the servers. You can see from recent steps including the e-mail system changes, merchant changes, mob spawns, etc. that they are scrambling to find space to hold everything.
it's not that they don't have space. they have plenty of money to afford that.
the problem is that their database is, quite frankly, a piece of crap. and it has problems managing all the data that's in it, so they're slimming it down and hoping things improve.
The database is inadequate to support the game design, and this has been painfullyobvious ever since the infamous "melon nerf" just a month or so after release, then there was a "temporary" nerf of storage space in houses that has become permanent.
Think about it. Resources change every 7-10 days on servers and become unstackable. People look for the best resources they can find to craft high quailty goods. The fact that they've got to track literally hundreds of different types of, say, polysteel copper on each server, in stacks ranging from 1 unit to 100000 units is a tremendous strain on the database, but is absolutely essential to the design of the game, which spawns different quality polysteel copper on purpose to create market cycles and to give the economy texture. The problem is that the database has serious problems dealing with the quantities of resources generated by this key element of the game's design.
Why do people hold email forever? To store the waypoints somewhere OTHER than the datapads. You can't store waypoints on droids. People want to store things away for future use. The game design, through the resource shifting mechanism, encourages people to store resources away for future use. The database supporting all this isn't up to the task it's been asked to do.
Message Edited by SioBabble on 09-13-2004 07:34 AM
GFoyle
Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:12 am
#10
digiwrath wrote:
HoundMB wrote:
The difference is that the pets take up database space on the servers. You can see from recent steps including the e-mail system changes, merchant changes, mob spawns, etc. that they are scrambling to find space to hold everything.
it's not that they don't have space. they have plenty of money to afford that.
the problem is that their database is, quite frankly, a piece of crap. and it has problems managing all the data that's in it, so they're slimming it down and hoping things improve.
I'm afraid as a database consultant I have to (reluctantly) agree here .
If database size is a serious issue, I'm afraid there is something very wrong with the underlying database design.
With correctly designed indexing and procedures, data storage and retrieval should not be an issue. Oracle can handle databases into the Tera-byte range - a pet represents only a few tens of bytes at most (unless the designer has done something stupid). Sure there are a lot of them, but not so many that it should cause an issue.
The only area where an understandable bottleneck is likely to occur is with "transient data" where records are being rapidly created, deleted or moved about - and pet and item storage does not fall into that category.
But then again, designing good databases is a pig (which is why I get paid the big bucks! 
)
EccoTon
Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:23 am
#11
I seem to be the exception to other MCH I talk to. I use all my pets. I also collect rares and extinct. I use my extincts too. Most MCH with extinct I have talked to say they do not use them. I feel what is the point if you do not use them. As an example my extinct bark mite burrower queen cl60 vitality is currently 85/85 I love using that pet. My merek king harvestor is 89/89.
This is whereI would like to have a corral or retirement pen. I would like to retire my extincts when they get to low so I can still look at them and show my collection. Reguardless I will still keep using them. I wish more MCH did I would like to see more rares and extincts in action.
Ecco
Wallach1
Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:28 am
#12
all things depending, I usually start off using my twin Bile-Drenched quenkers, and when they get to a point that they are tired, I usually move over to my GSP/TMB combination, which I have found works real well. In some occassions, I use my GSP and my GW while riding a Lesser Plains Bol (till I can get another mountain dewback.) Just the way I play, cause I really don't need a lot of money, so I ain't a power hitter.
Also, I'm about to drop TKM and go master Rifleman or Master Carbineer so my pets will be even more valuable to me, cause they will be able to tank for me while I'm whiping up on stuff.
juwell
Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:30 am
#13
I don't NEED extra room in my data for pets I WANT the room. If a BE can make 100+pets and drop them in their shop, or house (should be their right) then why can't I collect pets like that? If a Doc wants to buy as much good avian or herbivore, every time excellent meat moves in, as ppl can bring them why can't I collect pets like that? The loot items for kits are advertised all over as hundred in stock, but, I can only have 22 pets? It is about fair.
Also I am knocking myself out to collect rares, sorry I am not using them inbattle when I finally get my gps or bull, why should I have to delete good combat pets in order to have them?
If not for the vitality loss maybee 22 would be plenty as I would use my rares without fear of them being db'ed. As it stands now my screecher, my Swampy, my prowling gurreck, and gurreck are just for me to bring out and brag on, much as a man brags on the size of the fish or deer he got. They are the representatives of hard work and diligence in hunting that I was willing to put in.
No maybe we don't need extra room, but we want it. Since that is an issue with us it most certaoinly deserves to be on that list to Tiggs.
Juwell
master creature handle/master scout/tracker
Page 1 of 3