S
siyeng0
Guest
Note: I'm not a PvPer.
That said, I've spoken to the odd PvPer on occasion about pets in player battles. I got a lot of angry froth and spit all over me (even from the people who played the tamers doing all the 'all kill'-ing!) Pets are overpowered in PvP - a greater dragon can two-hit-kill someone in all 70s armour, and even if they move quite slowly it still makes it very difficult to get near their tamer, who more likely than not will be hurling fireballs at the same time, in order to kill them - and it takes no skill whatsoever to hit a macro for "all kill." Someone on a mount can outrun a greater dragon (although pathfinding is peculiar for animals; I've been hit by fireballs from a dragon two screens away through a solid wall before) but seriously, nobody enjoys having to run away from things. Nobody. Even I don't enjoy it, and it hasn't been so long since I had to run away from hinds*.
So. When in Felucca, why not give pets a distinct species temperament?
Let me explain. Dragons are known for being, well, draconic. They're supposed to be vicious, very intelligent, and unpredictable. I can't imagine one tolerating some apron-wearing PvPer bossing them around all the time. So, why not use the roleplay excuse of a draconic temper to make greater dragons not quite the reliable killing machines they are now? Make them unpredictable. When a tamer gives the all-kill command and targets another player - perhaps differentiation could be made between players and mobs; this is for PvP, not PvM - how about introducing a good chance (1 in 5 would do it) that the dragon would do nothing, or wander off, or even attack its tamer? There'd be no need to nerf them. They could still be righteous PvM weapons. It's just that every time a player tried to sic their dragon - previously a faithful killer of all their enemies, reliable and boring as all hell to fight with or against - on another player, it would be like a game of Russian roulette. That would make them a bit less eager to fall back on their greaters to protect them against absolutely everything.
It wouldn't have to stop there. Each species could have a personality. Ki-rin and unicorns could be far weaker than greaters, but guaranteed to do as you told them every time. Cu Sidhe could randomly decide to follow some other player or mob instead of you. Hiryu could be randomly aggressive; they always attack, but it's not always the person you told them to attack. Introducing that element of uncertainty in Felucca would be a way to effectively re-nerf tamers without crippling the pets they've come to rely upon, and having to constantly deal with the threat of a sudden pet attack would bring some skill back into PvP taming.
So. Um. Thoughts?
*Just normal hinds. Not even paragons.
That said, I've spoken to the odd PvPer on occasion about pets in player battles. I got a lot of angry froth and spit all over me (even from the people who played the tamers doing all the 'all kill'-ing!) Pets are overpowered in PvP - a greater dragon can two-hit-kill someone in all 70s armour, and even if they move quite slowly it still makes it very difficult to get near their tamer, who more likely than not will be hurling fireballs at the same time, in order to kill them - and it takes no skill whatsoever to hit a macro for "all kill." Someone on a mount can outrun a greater dragon (although pathfinding is peculiar for animals; I've been hit by fireballs from a dragon two screens away through a solid wall before) but seriously, nobody enjoys having to run away from things. Nobody. Even I don't enjoy it, and it hasn't been so long since I had to run away from hinds*.
So. When in Felucca, why not give pets a distinct species temperament?
Let me explain. Dragons are known for being, well, draconic. They're supposed to be vicious, very intelligent, and unpredictable. I can't imagine one tolerating some apron-wearing PvPer bossing them around all the time. So, why not use the roleplay excuse of a draconic temper to make greater dragons not quite the reliable killing machines they are now? Make them unpredictable. When a tamer gives the all-kill command and targets another player - perhaps differentiation could be made between players and mobs; this is for PvP, not PvM - how about introducing a good chance (1 in 5 would do it) that the dragon would do nothing, or wander off, or even attack its tamer? There'd be no need to nerf them. They could still be righteous PvM weapons. It's just that every time a player tried to sic their dragon - previously a faithful killer of all their enemies, reliable and boring as all hell to fight with or against - on another player, it would be like a game of Russian roulette. That would make them a bit less eager to fall back on their greaters to protect them against absolutely everything.
It wouldn't have to stop there. Each species could have a personality. Ki-rin and unicorns could be far weaker than greaters, but guaranteed to do as you told them every time. Cu Sidhe could randomly decide to follow some other player or mob instead of you. Hiryu could be randomly aggressive; they always attack, but it's not always the person you told them to attack. Introducing that element of uncertainty in Felucca would be a way to effectively re-nerf tamers without crippling the pets they've come to rely upon, and having to constantly deal with the threat of a sudden pet attack would bring some skill back into PvP taming.
So. Um. Thoughts?
*Just normal hinds. Not even paragons.
