Pet Classes /Personalization/?

[Shougun]

its not an interesting system... it was an annoying mess in FFXI. and the reason why no one EVER invited a beastmaster into his group, when there is a huge risk to get hit by his own pet each time.

Trust me, Dark Age of Camelot had also some kind of system... in the end after 10 years now.. they ended up with permanent charm, because no one used that other charm anymore.. it was too ineffective.

you can do it like that... monster with the same level as yours -> permanent charm... level above yours -> charm which can resist from time to time.

I think they could change it so when the pet disobeys it perhaps runs away or like pokemon says "rush evolved Charzard: F U" and does nothing. In this way they are not a threat to be invited to party. Since a beastmaster relies on their pet fully it is still quite punishing to have your damage output lock up because of poor play. Say taking in that balancing act idea in my post, instead of the monster beating you to shit he does something a little less realistic so beastmasters are not a threat to the party.

[Tonkra]

I think they could change it so when the pet disobeys it perhaps runs away or like pokemon says "rush evolved Charzard: F U" and does nothing. In this way they are not a threat to be invited to party. Since a beastmaster relies on their pet fully it is still quite punishing to have your damage output lock up because of poor play. Say taking in that balancing act idea in my post, instead of the monster beating you to shit he does something a little less realistic so beastmasters are not a threat to the party.

thats no solution.

imagine a bossfight against garuda with a beastmaster in party.. after 3 minutes "oh sorry guys.. my pet ran away"
do you REALLY think a beastmaster would get invited then anymore? a beastmasters positive aspect is his pet and its monsterskills. when he loses it many times within a fight its nothing more than ineffective, useless and annoying of course.
the only guys who liked that job in FFXI have been pure soloist players or masochists. the system itself was just poorly bad. (and that opinion coming from a person who loves pet jobs)


and isnt it better to have a real "companion" with you as a beastmaster instead of always wild and timid pets who run away how they want to? Does a wild horse run away after you succeeded taming it?..

so i say:

for the pet itself:
- permant charm (at least for monster at the same level as you)
- about 5 save slots for different beasts to make the beastmaster be able to call his pets even in an instanced raid.
- maybe a restistable charm for pets that are higher than your level, with the risk of breaking the charm (giving BST the option to charm higher monsters)


to make him a useful class for groups.. and of course.. less ANNOYING..
the resistable charm would give BST the option to charm mobs, that are at a higher level with a risk that they can break the charm at anytime.

besides that they should give BST other skills to push his own damage.. like:

for the BST:
- berserk mode (boosts melee damage, reduces defense)
- savagery (boosts evasion and acc)
- transfer pain to the pet for a certain time (20% ish)
- sacrifice pet (regain HP + stat boost for a certain time)
- use horn to call one of your saved beasts


because a pet only does not grant you a place in a party. when they are going to introduce BST they should do a bit more than just a charm skill.

[Shougun]

thats no solution.

imagine a bossfight against garuda with a beastmaster in party.. after 3 minutes "oh sorry guys.. my pet ran away"
do you REALLY think a beastmaster would get invited then anymore? a beastmasters positive aspect is his pet and its monsterskills. when he loses it many times within a fight its nothing more than ineffective, useless and annoying of course.
the only guys who liked that job in FFXI have been pure soloist players or masochists. the system itself was just bad.


and isnt it better to have a real "companion" with you as a beastmaster instead of always wild and timid pets who run away how they want to? Does a wild horse run away after you succeeded taming it?..

so i say:

- permant charm (at least for monster at the same level as you)
- about 5 save slots for different beasts to make the beastmaster be able to call his pets even in an instanced raid.
- maybe a restistable charm for pets that are higher than your level (but no option to save it to your pet reportoir, more or less the same crappy charm skill like in FFXI)


to make him a useful class for groups.. and of course.. less ANNOYING..
the resistable charm would give BST the option to charm mobs, that are at a higher level.

I meant the pet would runaway but be within tameable radius (and stay non aggro unless you left it alone for a long time, in which it would despawn).

And yes I think so. If you make the beastmaster able to do enough damage that they can balance their animal then its fine.

It would be just like a Blackmage using their mana, some do it poorly others do it really well no one kicks a black mage out because they can go to 0 magic and are useless.

Also having your pet grow in loyalty would make the pet easier to juggle in its wild / tame side so as a beastmaster you could distinctively feel play difference between your wild and non wild pets.

So a loyal pet that you piss off would maybe disobey for a second but stay put, perhaps when getting attacked personally the pet will never disobey (loyal pets will defend their master without thought of self) because I dont buy the cast one spell and you have a fully tamed pet idea. But I also agree that having a full on pet is way more enjoyable then something that hates you and something you just send off to die lol.

[Shurrikhan]

thats no solution.

imagine a bossfight against garuda with a beastmaster in party.. after 3 minutes "oh sorry guys.. my pet ran away"
do you REALLY think a beastmaster would get invited then anymore? a beastmasters positive aspect is his pet and its monsterskills. when he loses it many times within a fight its nothing more than ineffective, useless and annoying of course.
the only guys who liked that job in FFXI have been pure soloist players or masochists. the system itself was just poorly bad. (and that opinion coming from a person who loves pet jobs)


and isnt it better to have a real "companion" with you as a beastmaster instead of always wild and timid pets who run away how they want to? Does a wild horse run away after you succeeded taming it?..

to make him a useful class for groups.. and of course.. less ANNOYING..

*the resistable charm would give BST the option to charm mobs, that are at a higher level with a risk that they can break the charm at anytime.

because a pet only does not grant you a place in a party. when they are going to introduce BST they should do a bit more than just a charm skill.

You could always change the way a Beast-master works depending on his being in a raid vs. simple leveling. Having the possibility of your pet running away, while being fairly bursty when able to partly influence that same wild (and thereby non-weakened) enemy beast would be a fun part of leveling. Though even then it would certainly help to have a spare consistent (weaker) pet at the ready to back you up.

All it really takes is formula changes. A "tamed beast", as compared to a "pet", would keep its additional abilities and strength, rather than sharing strength with you based on your stats and its calculation types, but is able to flee. A single additional pet slot already allows a beast-master to be used to cause friendly-fire among enemies in the worst of cases, without the risk that comes with being unable to replace the risky minion at a later time. If that's not enough, we could set boss fights to keep "tamed beast" type skills at "pet"-calculated loyalty and strength. This would allow certain pre-scripted encounter variance dependent on having certain beasts from before the boss fight, etc, without immense risk (aside from perhaps losing whatever bonuses you've worked up between you and your pet during the fight before fleeing or going berserk on your party).

I'd prefer that taming itself not be too easy at low levels, and taming by spell alone not last long without due later effort even at high levels. I'm fine with seeing it rarely used in instances when there's not enough time to lead a lonely-looking enemy wolf away with a line of meat slabs, kind telepathy, and some petting. We always have our primary pets, and at some point we'll hit the limits of our kennel sizes, no matter how much room we're given.

Edit: I completely agree with SodRansom that taming should be a major element of the job though, for those who wish to use it. It's a feature of the job that goes beyond merely how it does combat, and removing it would be like a Gambler class without any risk involved in its structure. Trusting the instinct of a beast, guarding against it, efficiently or optomistically balancing both... those are some pretty cool thematic elements, to put it mildly.