Mobs with pets bad

[secondkenlon]

The engies should only cast one bot, and it should be vicious.

Crat bots should be relatively easy to deal with.

MP NPCs need their damage output lowered bigtime. The Meatballs are death.

[Greybear]

Originally posted by Kenlon


It uses the chest mechanics. It's not a chest.
They intentionally made it so the shrines would not have items in them.

The bit about the SHRINES was a prime example of the HALF-BAKED job the Programmers keep doing.

Next time you find a shrine, dont touch it untill your in a fight, then try and open it. Youll get the message along the lines of 'You cannot open a CHEST while in combat'

Another example of Incompleteness with the shrines is the fact that the thing gives you an inventory window.

Another sign of its ineptitude (sp?) is the fact that there are 2 of them that will actually just disappear after you click on them and produce no Inventory window.


So, what has this got to do with pet Mob?

Simple, seems its easier to do the job half right and tell people your working on fixing it than it is to do a complete job before you release it.

How many times do you think someone turned in one of the points above before they went live?



SOLO Missions, means SOLO. Not every class is Balanced. Pet pathing for PLAYERS has been screwed up for awhile. Reworking of the mission rooms ceased sometime back.

Introing the NPC pets while you know that there are problems, is just introing another problem for some.

[_________________Ted]

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about the shrines. Yes its kind of weird that they open like a chest, but the only point of them is to give you a 3 minute nano program that boost speed, damage, healing, etc, correct? Personally I love the shrines, esp. the healing or damage boost ones. And I agree, it would be nice if you could access them during a fight. Is that you're point?

[Greybear]

hmm, Guess I ramble on alot and somehow you didnt see the answer to you question...

The bit about the SHRINES was a prime example of the HALF-BAKED job the Programmers keep doing.

So, what has this got to do with pet Mob?

Simple, seems its easier to do the job half right and tell people your working on fixing it than it is to do a complete job before you release it.

SOLO Missions, means SOLO. Not every class is Balanced. Pet pathing for PLAYERS has been screwed up for awhile. Reworking of the mission rooms ceased sometime back.

Introing the NPC pets while you know that there are problems, is just introing another problem for some.

Hey and here is another thought on the SHRINES. Why? They seem so DnD or DIABLOish

Couldnt these have been freeforming Clouds of Nanobots with or without colors in the room?

Game Mechanics in the Intro Hall being introed show that if you walk close enough to some NPCs it triggers them, so why not have FreeFloating Clouds that cant be seen and if you walked Thru them you were Enhanced by the NanoBots?



But thats not the point of this thread, NPC PETS are BAD for some of the profs to try and solo with its master.
Then game is Halfway Balanced for the NPC without its pet, the PEt is a NEW and MUCH higher Damage sorce than some of the masters.
This would be like giving all PetClass NPCs a damage shield that is automatic and never ends, since they can recast on the fly.
This comes after they DECREASE the reflection bracers and destroy the BIG one.
This comes as they are working to FIX the crit stacking ITems and buffs to no longer STACK incorrectly and thus decrease damages for the players. (needed yes, and make sense the way its explained out)

[Gearbox]

Originally posted by GreyBear
Hey and here is another thought on the SHRINES. Why? They seem so DnD or DIABLOish

Then don't use them... sheesh.

You must be really bored to sit around *****ing about shrines.

[secondkenlon]

Gotta say, Greybear, there are plenty of things in the game that need fixing.

But shrines using the same mechanics as chest has got to be one of the most trivial things wrong in the game.

[Greybear]

Man, I wish some people would read and not just skip to the end.


The bit about the SHRINES was a prime example of the HALF-BAKED job the Programmers keep doing.


Whats that I think Ive now said it 3 times atleast on this thread.

Mobs with pets bad

Thats the name of the Topic. Got anything to add to your posts atleast about that?

[Stepho556]

I haven't played the test server, but I do have a reply to those who bemoan the pet chain casting. As an engineer, I am useless without my bot in missions. Pathing sometimes neutralizes my team combot ability, yet I would never let lack of preparation do so. That being said I always carry a self buffed shell to activate in case Marvin (my robot) happens to be scrapped by a mob. When that happens I then release the new bot, trim it, and cast a new backup shell. If mobs don't aggro on me I can do this until I deplete my nano rechargers. No one bothers to attack my bot in pvp however, and I don't blame them. Why attack my 50k+ hp slayerdroid if it disappears when I die? So since you have a choice of who to attack, I suggest you do what every competent PvPer does and kill the master, not complain about how many consecutive bots he can throw. On that note, I'd like to agree with many previous post on the issue of pets despawning when Master dies. Pets should absolutely despawn when the master dies. If FC were to decide against this, then I believe the orphaned pet should be treated as an individual mob, granting xp and loot, sincce it has become mandatory to vanquish it. Oh well, didn't mean to write so much, thanks for reading.

Stepho556...lv 136 engineer

[Andross]

If you want to help show what the community thinks about pets for NPCs, go to http://ao.stratics.com and vote on the poll

[___________shadowine]

Oki I don't have tested yet, but I'm sure it will be more funny and more challenging to have in fornt of us mobs casting pets...
if and only if the same rules and restrictions from players are in action in mobs... :-)

Yes I know that will be signify the level of mission will be harder... and we will cannot level so fast.... but for me the interest of a game is the challenge not the possibility to level fast.

So make all players rules are applicable to mobs (or vice-versa) and it will be fine :-)

Shadowerine Fixer 93 - MercyShad bureaucrat 40

[Gene13]

Pets are not a problem for professions with crowdcontrol abilities. I can see that they might be for the remaining 7 (or 6) professions, but I can't say anything about those beacause I've never learnt to play 'em.

Imo, pet-owning NPCs should have their min-damage toned down. All of 'em, not just MPs.

I think limiting the number of pets a mob can cast could be a solution for those without crowd control, possibly with additional XP for bringing down the pet.
Having the pet disapearing immediatly after the NPC is dead sounds like a good idea if you can't work it out in any other way.

I've only done one mission in ver .2, but at least Engies still builds bots that are higher level than the NPC (orange NPC, red bot).

Pets are breathing some life into individual missions in a way that is more "in character" for AO than those shrines. (Don't get me wrong, I like getting an additional X% of something, but I'd rather get it from something more SciFi and less Ghosts 'n' Goblins.)

All of this is ofcourse with >one year of AO, and I might have thought diffently if I was new to the game.

Bottom line: Mobs with pets good, and I'm surprised to see that the original poster is a 'crat.


/G13

[Courtney]

----
Please try add some more information to this. I can't go to the designers with just "it's bad". Let me know what is the problem, and I'll have something more to bring to them.

Do they hit too hard? Do they have too much hits? Too much AC? Too hard to hit? What level are the pets compared to the master? Etc...
----

Whats bad is mobs health was doubled to make them provide a challange.. we see negative effects on this when you run into enforcer mobs who seem tougher then they should be, a fixer mob whos weaker then they should be. Now not only do the Enginere/crat/mp mobs who have more average health to be a challange get another neat thing to do, but the thing they do beats on you for twice as long as they would if the mob wasnt already compensated for not having his pet before

a good example would be to say " oh the cashere earns 2.50 an hour.. thats not enough to live on lets add a x2 factor into their hours so they get payed more" followed by "oops minimum wage says jack it up to 5.25" of course your not takieing that x2 out so instead of the fixed 5.00 or the finihsed 5.25.. they are getting 10.50 . Perhaps Mobs should be re-evaluated in general.. or maybe make profesion specific keys so you can balance it for thoes professoins.

[secondkenlon]

Yeah.

Mobs with pets *good*.

Added risk in missions *good*.

Making Engie and Crat mobs not total gimps is *good*.

Toning down MP mobs would also be *good* too.

[Greybear]

Just a thought, and I might be wrong or mistaken, but.....


Seems here awhile back, talking about the NPCs, their INITs were effected by their Color to the player attacking.

Meaning if the NPC were slightly higher they would attack slightly faster and thus if they were RED would also attack even faster than that. OR if they were Grey to the player Slower.

If I remember this first part right, then that would mean you could have a even fight NPC with a Bot that was actually getting a speed boost for no reason other than being RED. This isnt the same for players. IF a Players pet is RED to an NPC I believe it doesnt do a speed adjustment.

Just a thought, and Like I said I might be wrong or remember this incorrectly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought about this at work and I think the above is kinda half wrong. I think that tho ur able to attack at say, 1 hit per second against an Even fight that they slow your Inits down when fighting a Higher Color. The Higher the color the slower the attack speed becomes, like from 1 hit per second to 1.5 per second or so against a RED. And as you attack a lower color your Init speed doesnt improve past the Even fight stand point.

Again this might be wrong, but it was along time ago and Im trying to remember this change.


Basically it was another ADVANTAGE for the NPC.

[Greybear]

How about this, Remove NPC pets from EVEN fight or slightly above, solo missions?

[Greybear]

Originally posted by Kenlon
The engies should only cast one bot, and it should be vicious.

Crat bots should be relatively easy to deal with.

MP NPCs need their damage output lowered bigtime. The Meatballs are death.

Just thought you might look back on this post KENLON so I Quoted you twice.

Whether or not they should be tweaked?
It's bloody obvious they should be tweaked, and you have to know it.

Whatza matter, your wanted the ENGIE pet to be Vicious, you got it.

[___________SUPERSLAG]

I think casting mobs should be a team only option imo for they do seem to be overpowered.

[______________theBro]

...really needs some tweaking

1. Should get much more XP for the extra hassle of fighting them (you did "learn something" from killing the pet right?)

2. Should never have 3-4 mobs with 3-4 pets in the same place (haven't experienced this in the entry room yet, but i can only imagine the confusion and video lag!)

3. too overpowered. Level range between MOB and pet should be decreased.



The idea is so cool!..Im actually afraid of that engie MOB now...lol.

[__________HealthyBob]

I would have to say in the overall the pet idea is a good one, BUT it has some things that need to be worked out.

1) I think removing the pets from solo missions is a good idea, think of all the n00bs who would continuasly die and just get fed up with the game

2) Some have way too many HPs and some with some hardcore evades, Had a Warbot whipe out my entire team... no one could hit it and it had the HP of a Boss.

3) Location, its impossible to take on a First room with 4 engies and 4 slayerdroids, maybe with some really good mezzing and damn good healing. Though sticking them in a boss room is ludacris, 3 engies 3 slayerdroids and a boss will squish a team flat in seconds.

4) If you do want to kill the bots, or are forced to due to the fact that they still agg even without mob there, they should give XP.. I mean some of them are tough as nails to kill and have potential of killing many team mates.


Though most of these points had been said, i just had to reiderate on them

[Gene13]

Originally posted by HealthyBob
I would have to say in the overall the pet idea is a good one, BUT it has some things that need to be worked out.

1) I think removing the pets from solo missions is a good idea, think of all the n00bs who would continuasly die and just get fed up with the game

They did remove them from <10 missions, didn't they? I could swear I read that in the test patch notes.

/G13