Control Pets

After playing several other games/mmos, the biggest difference I've noticed (although still playable and fun without it) is the ability to control your pets actions. During one of the necromancer missions in the catacombs, where you have to defeat a monster, an npc tells you to use your summoned pets to set off geyser traps. I had no clue how to do this because there wasn't any way to make the pet move (from what I could tell). Instead, the pet just followed me around. The ability to make a pet do something you want it to do would be greatly affective in having the pets in the first place (ie; move, heel, attack, stay, etc).

I totally agree with you on this. I play Ultima Online and have a tamer there, and its so useful to be able to control it! I play a ranger (obviously) and it would be so useful to be able to tell a pet to attack while i was casting my buffs or something, or to be able to shoot a monster without the pet going in and ending up as the damage magnet instead of the big brave warrior I happen to be adventuring with.

I'd love to see this, as long as pets would still have decent AI. With GW being so action oriented, I wouldn't want to have to tell my pet what to do all the time. I'd just like it there when I want it.

Aye, just a few buttons to over-ride the normal AI.

In one of the last few Fansite Firdays Gaile mentioned that pet commands would be in the game, but that it probalby wouldn't be there on the day of release.

sounds good to me

well that's good to hear. I hope they add it soon after the release though. It's fun having a pet, but when you forget to feed them and they get pissed at you, it'd suck not being able to make them stop feeding on your legs :P

I had this problem too on that quest....

Spoiler....

There is a corpse on the other side of each of the traps. You summon a new bonewalker and it runs back towards you setting off the trap and dying.

It is such an amazingly counterintuitive thing that I can't believe it is in this game.

if i made it my self ( the command buttions that is ) and i do not clame to be a wiz at programing, or dezining,( i runed that word ) i would make the buttions work more as a seggestion then any thing else, and work in tandom with the the animals other "natrual" instancts such as:

• self presivation ( fight if the enemy is attacking "me", or run if the enemy is to powerfull,
• commands go here, such as, attack, go here,
• help master out ( help fight your enemy )

this is what i would like to see, to place the commands inbetween the self presivation code, ( you know the one, you can see it work when you die and your pig starts getting attacked by three or four gnolls ) and the auto fight

well, as for ur quest, there are corpses on the other side of the gyser when u see it, THAT is the corpse ur suppose to use to set of the gyser

I think you should be able to select the target your pet executes pet skills on, as it is, pets execute attacks on the target they are already attacking. Instead your pet should use attack skills on the target that you are currently targeting, or fail/refund energy used by the skill if your not targeting an enemy, or they die before it is used.

There is nothing more frusterating then losing energy for a pet skill when it doesn't execute, expecially when your trying to heal him, and he dies, and you still loose the energy, as well as loosing all your skills for 8 seconds when it doesn't even revive your pet.

nothing wrong with controlling your pets if you want to

Undead legions arn't pets, and should not have any advanced control options. Rangers have pets, and thier Pet Skills should have more control involved so you can decide who the pet will use the move on and a way to recall him as well, but necromancer don't have pets, they have minion.

1. Pulling monsters without pets attacking: Do it with a spell. NPCs won't engage targets unless you use a physical attack (normal or weapon skill). Pets are even unique because they won't engage if you tap space while casting, while henchmen will. Since 80% of rangers are R/E, R/N, or R/Me, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal to bring at least one spell.

2. Making pets attack a specific target: Otyugh's Cry. Every non-hostile animal will switch to whatever target you used this skill on. Don't want to waste a skill slot to be able to command your pet? Tough. Don't take a pet or just deal with it.

3. Disengaging from a target: Run away. Between pets and henchmen, pets will almost always disengage first.

Really, I don't have problems with pets at all, other than the death thing BahamutKaiser mentioned where your pet dies before it can execut its skill or before you can get Comfort Animal off. It's just a matter of understanding how the AI works and dealing with it.

P.S. I used to play UO, too. Not to brag, but I was one of the most famous tamers and the first to tame a fire steed on my shard.

I would prefer having being able to control the pet when you die, and have it able to use your rez signet. this may cut down on the fact that alot of ppl think pets are a waste of skill slots. if your gonna take the hit in skills andf atrubute points for a pet, have it be more useful when you need it most (when your dead).

I searched high and low for this!! Now I can go back into the catacombs with confidence - thank you!

Otyugh's Cry unfortunately does not seem to encourage your pet to attack a certain target. Just tried it out, and my pet preferred to loaf around as usual. When I physically attacked the opponent, off the pet went; I tried using Otyugh's Cry on a different target while it was fighting the first, and the pet did not change targets. This is currently my main beef with pets: they made them too passive to appease the numerous cries to make pets 'safer'. They're currently too safe - my Mo/R prefers not to do any attacking, but that basically means a pet becomes useless to her.

even just being able to click on the pet like a second character in the game would be nice... being able to click on him and then move the pet around like you would be able to move yourself around and click what u want the pet to attack and so forth

those ideas would be a nice aspect to the game