Please SqueEnix; fix Chocobo companions:

[GMERC]

But chocobos are supposedly smart! Time and again we see them in quests and cutscenes, completely understanding human speech and commands. And they are the main animal in usage for all kinds of work in Eorzea, following their owners' wishes without any problem.
So why am I 100% unable to have ANY control over my chocobo that I have bonded with and trained for years?
If I gave it commands and it ignored them half of the time, that would be annoying too I guess, but not remotely as bad as not being able to tell it anything at all.

Fair enough, but the only thing bad about Healer Chocobos is Choco Medica. If you die with a Healer Chocobo out, it's almost 100% your fault. In this case, it sounds like the topic starter likes to bite off more than she can chew and thinks her Healer Chocobo will render any situation unlosable.

If they don't have a purpose beyond being meat shields then there is no point in even having them.

You're confusing "not being overpowered" with "not having a purpose".

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

How to fix: Leave your chocobo in free stance. It will AA and remain where it is, while throwing up chocobo regen/cure on you. For added bonus, give it a few dps skills so it can help you nuke enemies faster.

Your welcome. I haven't used a stances chocobo in ages.

[Chocolys]

The best way I found to protect my chocobo when doing Fates solo, is:

- to set the Chocobo to Free Stance
- Attack the target then circle it such as to place the boss between you and the chocobo.
- Then the chocobo will only be hitted by bosses that have a 360° melee attack or similar and that's not common unless you're going after the big 30 minutes fate bosses which are not supposed to be solo killed in the first place.

[Cenerae]

I've never had problems leaving the choco in free stance. As long as I don't let it take aggro and I keep stuff pointing away from it (so it doesn't get AoE'd) it heals me just fine.

Maybe the issue lies with healer stance - though I would wonder why the choco is healing itself in the first place. They don't do that in free stance unless they're hurt. Which leads me to believe that it's less to do with the choco and more to do with you doing a poor job of keeping hate from it. Unless healer stance is flat out broken I guess.

[AmiBeau]

The issue lies within the AI itself. I can circle around the boss as many times as I want. As soon as the bird casts 1 thing; it then rushes back as close as possible to me.

I can do enough damage by myself; so I then want the bird to ONLY heal. Ergo if it won't stay out of harms way and prioritize healing me first... then yeah, it's superfluous.

[ErikMynhier]

While I'm smitten with your sarcasm, I, too, see absolutely no reason why the Chocobos don't have control commands not unlike those which are used for Summoner pets. If the AI can't handle it, then just let me micromanage them myself.

They are Pets now mechanically, so it isn't out of the realm now. I agree with you a management system would be welcomed.


Hell I would be happy if it was smart enough to attack who attacks me without waiting for me to hit back.

[Khemorex]

well u just have to predict the front aoes and move away in time so it dosnt hit the chocobo :P it isnt that hard :P

[Rongway]

Maintain Free Stance whenever you don't need healing. Turn on Healer Stance if your HP drops below whatever self-prescribed threshold you self-prescribe, then go back to Free Stance and turn the mob again so the companion is outside the frontal cone.

[Felis]

I've never had problems leaving the choco in free stance. As long as I don't let it take aggro and I keep stuff pointing away from it (so it doesn't get AoE'd) it heals me just fine.

Maybe the issue lies with healer stance - though I would wonder why the choco is healing itself in the first place. They don't do that in free stance unless they're hurt. Which leads me to believe that it's less to do with the choco and more to do with you doing a poor job of keeping hate from it. Unless healer stance is flat out broken I guess.

In healer stance the chocobo want to be near it's owner. That mean in front of the enemy where the AoE will hit it.
A change where the Chocobo don't follow it's owner in healer stance should solve the problem.

[LunarEmerald]

They're not supposed to be as good as an actual healer.

As it stands, they're already plenty useful in soloing FATEs and the like. You can't solo everything but most things.