Summoner / Scholar pets... again
Thanks for fixing the obey -> heel thing. +1 for getting an epic annoyance fixed.
Maybe this is just a logic bomb on my part from how I'm thinking about it but I break down the pet skills like so:
4 movement buttons:
away, heel, place, stay - (all work great)
2 stance buttons:
Guard, Steady - (overall a bit funky when trying to understand pet dynamics)
2 attack buttons:
Sic [attack with all abilities AI controlled], Obey [Attack with 1 ability and other 3 are user controlled] - (this is where my problem is)
4 ability buttons:
pet dependent for each one, makes it impossible to macro properly unless you decide you're just going to only use 1 pet (Garuda-Egi).
Here's a basic statement of the basic pet problem (as I see it):
Excessive number of buttons for 'options' with very little functionality in each one.
Placement: The only two suggestions I have are:
drop 'stay'. Since you can place the pet wherever you want this is kind of a useless button to keep around. Overall these are great ways to control the pets movement.
Make the pet complete the command requested prior to following a scripted AI event (ex: if I tell the pet to heel, it will actually come to my side before starting to attack an NPC that just attacked me - this helps pet placement when dealing with terrain and aoe attacks). I hate seeing my pet charge back into a fight immediately after I said heel because a dot ticked off on me or some damage was done and ends up eating an AOE.
Stance:
Stances and Attack should be completely independent of each other. Attack should not force it into a guard stance.
If a pet is in 'Steady' stance and you order him to attack, he should follow the protocols of your attack (sic or obey) for the mob that is targeted and then revert back into that stance ignoring all other enemies unless explicitly told to get out of steady stance.
Right now the process goes Steady -> attack (sic|obey) -> stance changes to guard -> mob dies -> pet starts attacking the next mob in the agro list.
In my head, it should go: Steady -> attack (sic|obey) -> mob dies -> Steady.
Attack:
This should be changed to: "Attack" and "Stop Attacking" [Stop attacking should be outside of placement since a pet like garuda could technically heel back to the master, then attack from range].
You don't need an option of 'Attack and only use 1 ability' or 'Attack and use all abilities whenever you feel like it'. The limitation for which skills should be applied should be outside of this layer.
Abilities:
Give the pet window a toggle for each skill that the pet should or should not use. Hell, I would be happy with a command line toggle for on/off. This is where any skill limiting should be put in place.
Please keep proper format on the abilities placement inside of the pet bar window.
Right now, ifrits auto cast ability (burning strike) is #2 in the UI, not #1 like titan (rock buster) and garuda (wind blade). If you use pet bar key bindings rather than macros you have to change which keys you hit depending on the pet, not to mention it makes the format look sloppy.
Since one of the skills is auto cast, I tried binding just the 3 keys (last 3) for pets, and noticed the skills were out of place heh.
On pet abilities, please don't make us mash buttons over and over while we are thinking "WHY WILL YOU NOT SHOCKWAVE LJ*(#@&$(*@#$UJ@#(*$@#($*@&#$(@!!!!!!!!"
or cast any pet skill (aerial slash comes to mind when using hotkeys or macros).
Just rip them out of the GCD and cast bars so we can fire off pet abilities (not so concerned about smnr pet skills like rouse/spur/enkindle - although... having the pet actually cast without forcing the summoner to smash enkindle 8 - 12 times would be nice) and create a skill 'queue' system so that if the master says 'please cast aerial slash mr. garuda' then garuda will not say 'screw you buddy, i'm casting wind blade over and over and over and over and over and I refuse to let you tell me what to doooo!'.
I know it seems like a lot of bitching (because it is).
I really love summoner, it's a great class and reminds me of the necro from orig eq. I just can't seem to get around the insane pet mechanics that are being used. They literally make things practically impossible to manage and maintain without having to smash each button 5 times just to ensure 1 skill goes off.