This post is for Abapad (or as I call him Abba Pad) and Mezzthak. I love you guys, I really do – but we have to talk. You (that’s right, this time it was you not me) almost caused my group to wipe in the wee hours of the morning while I was doing a random dungeon. I’m starting to wonder (after being called all sorts of not-so-pleasant-names) if you’re worth having around.
I have two major issues with warlock pets. Number one, when I jump off of a ledge in a dungeon they decide that the best way to reach me is to run right through an encounter of mobs that we’ve just avoided – thus pulling them right to the group. How helpful (this is where the name calling came into play). This is incredibly annoying because it’s rare that a group takes a straight and flat path through a dungeon. Especially if they’ve been there once or twice. Not to mention there are some zones that just encourage you to drop down.
Unless I install some sort of shock system that reminds me to un-summon my pet every time I look at a ledge, I doubt I’ll avoid wiping my group any time soon.
The other annoyance is that in order to summon my pets (the majority of them at least) I need a soulshard. I keep 32 of these on me pretty constantly. I use them for pets, spells, soulstones, healthstones, etc. Every time I lose a pet, I need another one to call in the reinforcements. Losing pets from dumb things like me jumping off of a ledge – or from me falling down a big dark hole like a few instances have, is frustrating.
The rest of my small list of grievances are pretty typical. I remember to set my pet to passive (just like EQ2) so I don’t go inadvertently pulling something I shouldn’t be, or have my pet run after something I’d rather it not run after. If that one little glitch about jumping after me worked, things would be so much easier. So what do you say, abapad, mezzthak? Can we work something out here..
Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!
As a long time Warlock player (since Vanilla release) Ill just chime in to say that pet control is a major part of the Warlocks game. Any scrub can roll Warlock summon a pet and leave it at that. But the true masters of the class will be the ones whom will me micromanaging their pet along with their own spells, being constantly aware of where the pet is, where its going.
In the case of the pet running off when you drop off ledges this is the case where you will learn to notice instantly that he hasnt followed you, hit pet stay then resummon.
If you are using the Imp then you wont need another shard to resummon, they are free!!!
As for the shard situation, you must be nomming them in instances to go through so many. As a Demonology Warlock I use the shards for my pets but dont blow thorugh more than 10 in an instance, and thats with Healthstone spamming. Dont forget that practice dummies in the main cities grant shards when you use drain soul on them.
Keep on chugging away Star.
Unlike the hunter pets, warlock are only good at particular things. If I have my void pet out (tank) it will tank. If I have my imp out (which I typically do) it does dmg, as well as a 1330 hp buff to the group. My succubus can work as crowd control – but only one encounter at a time. My felhunter works great against casters, stunning them. But if I don’t happen to have the right pet out at the right time, there’s very little the pet can do in a pinch to save the group. Especially if they’re causing the wipes.
I’m not sure if there’s any difference between warlock pets and hunter pets, but as I’m playing a hunter for the first time, I’m finding my pet indespensible. For one, it’s saved my ass on more then one solo occasion. Second, it’s useful to have around in a pinch; last night, in fact, our random dungeon group saw our tank immediately exit the instance without a word…he just walked out the instance gate, leaving us without a point man. While we waited, the pet was on tank duty (our pal could have done in a pinch, but this was a more optimal situation since he was our only healer).
The jumping thing, which seems to be the centerpiece of your arguement…that’s a pathing issue, I guess. I understand your point about the pet taking the long way around, but that’s really something that is the fault of the system, and not the pet wrangler (just saw Ysh’s Tweet saying the same thing :D). But even as new to pet wrangling as I am, even _I_ know to keep the thing on passive until needed :D