Murk
01-27-2018, 10:15 AM
Some Animal Handling feedback:
Animal handling is quite an interesting skill, but has a few downsides which may be why you don’t see that many people using it. Some of the points here also apply to Necromancy, too.
My absolute #1 (https://forum.projectgorgon.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=1) downside I have highlighted in a (soothing) blue colour.
The overall AH experience is quite positive and interesting, especially since I have decided to pair it with Knife Fighting.
In order to benefit fully from some of the knife fighting skills it is necessary to distract or have an enemy be not focused on you. AH steps in quite nicely here as you can command your pet to front run the engagement to keep the enemy occupied, while you run in for a follow up backstab; or variations thereof.
I have not fully used some of these skills as of yet, but at least tried them all for a time.
Skills
Taming. This seems to work pretty well. The only issue with it that is a bit confusing in the new UI, as all the tame skills appear under the “Tame Rat” title, including the Tame Bear skill. {other skill lines exhibit some of this too}
Call stabled Pet - works as advertised, can take up lots of side bar slots though if different pets are needed on hand. Out of combat it is also a bit tedious to switch between pets slots. (am aware of load outs, but not convinced this is a good usage) Would like to see a right click -> change to stable slot #x sort of affair ideally. Perhaps this could be generalised for the sidebar skills. (.i.e. Right click menu, or a small pop-up menu to switch levels of a skill 1-6 etc) [same goes for necromancy - in that the summon you only use once before combat, in general, and then you must switch the sidebar slot to something else more useful]
Feed Pet, Yep. Heals pet. Makes everyone happy.
That'll Do - a beefed up version of Feed pet.
Get it off me. Not used much because it’s “better” to have one or more pet healing skills on the bar, given they die a lot. Which is worse, you dying or them dying, hard to say. My thought so far is that it’s better to try and kill a mob on you with monsterous rage instead.
Monstrous rage. It’s ok, but probably would be “nicer” if it lasted for x seconds. It is also hard to see if it has done anything unless you check the numbers closely, which is difficult. Perhaps a 300% scaled up damage number or some other device, would help highlight “special attacks” for all skills. Would be nice if it made the pet go attack the target too, for when your sic’em is recharging.
Shrill command - a zap command which is quite useful.
Sic’Em I had to look up on the internet what this meant as I have never heard of the expression before. It seems to mean “go get it”/“kill it”
Clever trick - on the fey panther it is supposed to heal owner, but it doesn’t it heals the pet.
Nimble limbs. I don’t know what “burst evasion” (it is melee evasion?) is and have not tried this skill much as of yet.
Wild Endurance. A useful heal over time for the pet.
Unnatural Wrath, is a parallel to Monstrous Rage in many ways. Not used it much as it imperils the already vulnerable pet, and requires a consumable.
Problems in the field
Hard to tell what happiness/enthusiasm/loyalty is for. At least be more clear what it’s for, if not how to raise it. Happiness appears to be how fast you pet levels. The stable master does tell you about this aspect of things.
Pets don’t navigate well, can get them stuck and they won’t follow at all. One example is to spawn a pet on velkorts’s roof, and jump down yourself, it won’t come off. This can happen in the field by accident.
https://i.imgur.com/XfJjJknh.jpg
The Biggest Problem: Animals wander off and attack things and you can’t stop them. This is especially true with archer mobs that attack the pet. The pet then decides to go after the attacker no matter what you do. This ends up in pet death many a time. I suggest that “Follow me” pet mode be changed such that:
Your pet sticks very close by (5 meters or less)
It does not move (at all) to defend itself from attack, but only defends within melee range if possible.
Be renamed to something like “Heel”
Sic’em command falls too short. Would be “nicer” if it has a larger action radius. Makes Things more easy to manage, rather than giving any other particular benefit that I can see.
Pets don’t follow quickly enough. They may be 100 yards behind you and you have to wait until they enter operating range, otherwise the pet commands cause you to run to them, which yields negative excitement in the animal handler. The sic’em for sure shouldn’t cause you, the handler to run to them, but I see why feed pet does.
Monstrous rage, Clever trick or any “command” probably should direct your pet to attack the mob if not already doing so. They should work like Sick em in this regard. The reason for this is your sic’em timer might not be ready. Meaning your monstrous rage etc won’t be any use if the pet is not already in combat.
Early days of AH see pets getting killed very easily which is a bit frustrating, this improved a bit with better pets later, but is a problem due to their penchant for wandering off to “defend” themselves from arrows and other things.
Bugs
Some AH icons are always greyed out, when they should not be.
https://i.imgur.com/llRwUYu.png
Thanks!
Animal handling is quite an interesting skill, but has a few downsides which may be why you don’t see that many people using it. Some of the points here also apply to Necromancy, too.
My absolute #1 (https://forum.projectgorgon.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=1) downside I have highlighted in a (soothing) blue colour.
The overall AH experience is quite positive and interesting, especially since I have decided to pair it with Knife Fighting.
In order to benefit fully from some of the knife fighting skills it is necessary to distract or have an enemy be not focused on you. AH steps in quite nicely here as you can command your pet to front run the engagement to keep the enemy occupied, while you run in for a follow up backstab; or variations thereof.
I have not fully used some of these skills as of yet, but at least tried them all for a time.
Skills
Taming. This seems to work pretty well. The only issue with it that is a bit confusing in the new UI, as all the tame skills appear under the “Tame Rat” title, including the Tame Bear skill. {other skill lines exhibit some of this too}
Call stabled Pet - works as advertised, can take up lots of side bar slots though if different pets are needed on hand. Out of combat it is also a bit tedious to switch between pets slots. (am aware of load outs, but not convinced this is a good usage) Would like to see a right click -> change to stable slot #x sort of affair ideally. Perhaps this could be generalised for the sidebar skills. (.i.e. Right click menu, or a small pop-up menu to switch levels of a skill 1-6 etc) [same goes for necromancy - in that the summon you only use once before combat, in general, and then you must switch the sidebar slot to something else more useful]
Feed Pet, Yep. Heals pet. Makes everyone happy.
That'll Do - a beefed up version of Feed pet.
Get it off me. Not used much because it’s “better” to have one or more pet healing skills on the bar, given they die a lot. Which is worse, you dying or them dying, hard to say. My thought so far is that it’s better to try and kill a mob on you with monsterous rage instead.
Monstrous rage. It’s ok, but probably would be “nicer” if it lasted for x seconds. It is also hard to see if it has done anything unless you check the numbers closely, which is difficult. Perhaps a 300% scaled up damage number or some other device, would help highlight “special attacks” for all skills. Would be nice if it made the pet go attack the target too, for when your sic’em is recharging.
Shrill command - a zap command which is quite useful.
Sic’Em I had to look up on the internet what this meant as I have never heard of the expression before. It seems to mean “go get it”/“kill it”
Clever trick - on the fey panther it is supposed to heal owner, but it doesn’t it heals the pet.
Nimble limbs. I don’t know what “burst evasion” (it is melee evasion?) is and have not tried this skill much as of yet.
Wild Endurance. A useful heal over time for the pet.
Unnatural Wrath, is a parallel to Monstrous Rage in many ways. Not used it much as it imperils the already vulnerable pet, and requires a consumable.
Problems in the field
Hard to tell what happiness/enthusiasm/loyalty is for. At least be more clear what it’s for, if not how to raise it. Happiness appears to be how fast you pet levels. The stable master does tell you about this aspect of things.
Pets don’t navigate well, can get them stuck and they won’t follow at all. One example is to spawn a pet on velkorts’s roof, and jump down yourself, it won’t come off. This can happen in the field by accident.
https://i.imgur.com/XfJjJknh.jpg
The Biggest Problem: Animals wander off and attack things and you can’t stop them. This is especially true with archer mobs that attack the pet. The pet then decides to go after the attacker no matter what you do. This ends up in pet death many a time. I suggest that “Follow me” pet mode be changed such that:
Your pet sticks very close by (5 meters or less)
It does not move (at all) to defend itself from attack, but only defends within melee range if possible.
Be renamed to something like “Heel”
Sic’em command falls too short. Would be “nicer” if it has a larger action radius. Makes Things more easy to manage, rather than giving any other particular benefit that I can see.
Pets don’t follow quickly enough. They may be 100 yards behind you and you have to wait until they enter operating range, otherwise the pet commands cause you to run to them, which yields negative excitement in the animal handler. The sic’em for sure shouldn’t cause you, the handler to run to them, but I see why feed pet does.
Monstrous rage, Clever trick or any “command” probably should direct your pet to attack the mob if not already doing so. They should work like Sick em in this regard. The reason for this is your sic’em timer might not be ready. Meaning your monstrous rage etc won’t be any use if the pet is not already in combat.
Early days of AH see pets getting killed very easily which is a bit frustrating, this improved a bit with better pets later, but is a problem due to their penchant for wandering off to “defend” themselves from arrows and other things.
Bugs
Some AH icons are always greyed out, when they should not be.
https://i.imgur.com/llRwUYu.png
Thanks!