Pet ball proposal

[Guest]

After some consultation the following changes are proposed for pet balls. All use systems in use elsewhere, I hope to keep workload required to implement to a minimum, that way, if we get it, we might get it quicker

1) A visible way for someone to tell a pet has been summoned. eg an emote above the head similar to that when using a bola.
(a summoning animation such as is used for etherals would not be seen if the summoner was mounted)
suggestion: 'name' surruptitiously activates a crystal ball

2) A delay before the summons is responded to - equivelant to the summoning of an etheral mount.

3) Delay on re-use, or use of a 2nd ball. To be determined - [edit]. removed suggested delay time.
4) Pet ball can not be used in conjunction with ninjitsu animal form

[edit] and I have absolutely no clue why the poll options didn't come up in the same order as I listed them.

 

[Guest]

I think it should be useable in animal form, though animal form should take up 1 control slot.

 

[Babble]

I normally play without a petball and with the logging issues and so that the pet comes to you I would be in favor of removing summoning balls.

For normal game play there is no real need for a petball I think.

 

[the 4th man]

I sense this pertains to players geting their butts handed to them on player versus player.......In my opinion, adapt to change without going to the manufacterers of the game to change the game so it conforms to your playstlye and what you've become comfortable with......a shame life itself wasn't that easy......good luck with this poll, for what it's worth

adapt, conform, change tactics......

 

[Nerf-Herder]

<blockquote><hr>

I think it should be useable in animal form, though animal form should take up 1 control slot.

[/ QUOTE ]

*my post pasted from another thread*

For the people advocating control slots for animal forms:
Animal forms/ninjitsu combined with taming is NOT the problem.

The problem is when pet balls are introduced into the equation.
Ninjitsu + Taming = LOL
Ninjitsu + Taming + PET BALL = PROBLEM


I'm serious. I have a ninja tamer, and I have attacked decent pvpers with my pets. The only time I wind up killing a decent pvper this way is in a chokepoint, or if they are already severely damaged. They almost always get away.

If I grab a pet ball, shift to animal form, attack, then run with them while repeatedly drilling my petball... THEY [censored] DIE!

Are you advocates of animal form control slots understanding the situation now? Adding those slots wont fix this problem, and could potentially ruin other skill combinations involving the ninjitsu skill; making less room for creative templates.

Whenever a problem is at least partially caused by an item, you ALWAYS fix the item first before you even attempt to change skills. Leave ninja alone, at least for now.

 

[Guest]

I would say yes on pet ball timer if it was 30 sec to 60 sec. But now it will effect tamers to much. Pett ball timer in pvp only need 10-15 sec to solve all. If you can survive that you just have to blame you self

 

[Guest]

A matter of perception I guess. I see it as correcting a misuse. Only my opinion of course, but I don't feel that the developer who dreamed up the idea of the pet ball intended it to be used in the way that it is being used in pvp.

 

[Guest]

Here's a thought.

How about a pet not responding to a player's commands when said player is
in Animal Form?

After all, what self respecting Dragon would do what a cat or dog tells him?

 

[Kat SP]

<blockquote><hr>

I think it should be useable in animal form, though animal form should take up 1 control slot.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, animal form should not take a control slot. There is nothing following you, it is a spell which turns the player into another form. The fact that a pet ball can be used repeatedly without any delay whatsoever, is the problem.

- I believe that if you summon a pet, there should be a 10 second timer before you can use the ball again.

- There should also be a delay added to hiding before a stealther can re-hide after using a pet ball.

 

[Guest]

if a 10 second delay on re-use is sufficient, both those points could be covered by one solution. A 'you must wait to perform another operation'.

This would bring it in line with things like peacing and stealing, both of which have quite a long delay before you can do anything else, including hide.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

For normal game play there is no real need for a petball I think.

[/ QUOTE ]
This may be a Siege specific thing; we have no recall/sacred journey only gates or running. You can not log a loaded pack animal to you so for many crafters petballs are the only way to get there goods to the vendors safely.

 

[Babble]

Should Siege though allow such a safe pet traveling?
For a pvp/veteran shard it sounds gimp....

 

[Guest]

which is something I took into account.

I've tried to come up with ways to limit the abuse, while not too adversely affecting their use. If that makes sense? I'd be interested to know how they were envisioned as being used by their creator.

and Babble, not everyone on Siege is a pvper. How would you propose that a crafter got his/her goods to the vendor without losing them along the way?

 

[GarthGrey]

<blockquote><hr>

if a 10 second delay on re-use is sufficient, both those points could be covered by one solution. A 'you must wait to perform another operation'.

This would bring it in line with things like peacing and stealing, both of which have quite a long delay before you can do anything else, including hide.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a much better solution than your first offer. PvM Tamers shouldn't mind in the least if there's a delay of any type with pet balls. I certainly want you PvP types to be on as even a playing field as possible, but it really shouldn't have to affect every other type of player.

 

[Babble]

Like people did before petballs.
Off times and gate travelling.
And Siege is the inofficial pvp shard I thought?

 

[Shelleybean]

I use pet balls to make up for pets not obeying commands like they should. When I say all follow me, or all come, I mean just that. I don't mean they should run off to face certain death like they seem to do half the time. I wouldn't be able to vote for a timer unless pet AI was improved first.

 

[Duke X. Winter]

I'm sorry, I can't agree with any of the suggestions.

If someone can lead my pet pretty much anywhere (in PvP) I should have full use of my summoning ball right away. If I have invested the points needed in taming, animal lore, and vet, then trained and bonded my pets, then I should get to use them.

In a PvM situation, these changes make no sense to me.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

And Siege is the inofficial pvp shard I thought?

[/ QUOTE ]
Indeed and not only that but it is more of a challenge for the non PvPers.
Behind every 1337 PvP gawd is a crafter and someone either farming resources or gold.

 

[Kat SP]

<blockquote><hr>

If someone can lead my pet pretty much anywhere (in PvP) I should have full use of my summoning ball right away.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL You say that as if it's printed in some secret UO civil liberties guide! It isn't. The devs reserve the right to make changes to the game at any time.

<blockquote><hr>

If I have invested the points needed in taming, animal lore, and vet, then trained and bonded my pets, then I should get to use them.


[/ QUOTE ]

Use what, your pets or the ball? Skills have nothing to do with the pet ball.

Listen, I have no desire to ruin anyones PvMing, but the way pet balls currently work, should be looked at in regard to PvP. As a tamer, even I can admit this. They are abused, to the point that people are using 40-60+ charges in under an hour. Petballs were not designed to be used with a UOAM macro that can be spammed to help the pet teleport to its target at the same speed the opponent is running, as he runs for his life. All the pet owner has to do is run along side his opponent and spam the macro. Can you imagine what this will be like with a super-dragon? I have avoided complaining about this beast, but surely you have to see a severe imbalance here.

I'm a tamer and I also PvP.. I can see both sides of the coin.

 

[Sergul'zan_SP]

<blockquote><hr>

I sense this pertains to players geting their butts handed to them on player versus player.......In my opinion, adapt to change without going to the manufacterers of the game to change the game so it conforms to your playstlye and what you've become comfortable with......a shame life itself wasn't that easy......good luck with this poll, for what it's worth

adapt, conform, change tactics......

[/ QUOTE ]

Uhhhh....????

Anyone who says adapt is either a.) Ignorant to the problem or b.) Employing the lame tactics themselves. The op and many of us are from Siege, a shard where pet balls and pets are causing a dramatic decline in the quality of shard PvP.

You do play there? Drop taming off your template.
You don't play there? Quit talking.

That is all.

 

[Guest]

RTLFC

Since this is indeed a Siege specific problem perhaps we need a Siege specific change.
Recall/Bracelets of binding are both turned off, could we just turn off the balls on siege as well?

Devs please do chime in here for us.

How hard would this be to do? I am gonna guess it would be a much more simple fix than changing the way the balls act in all of UO.
I know this solution would cause the crafters some problems but they might be willing to make the sacrifice.

 

[imported_SavageSP]

Would a 20-30 Second Timer hurt anyones playstyle for Petball use?

Maybe the Stealth Ninja Pet Ball Tamer but other then that I dont think it would cramp even Trammel Tamers that much, how often do you really need to use one that quick in succession unless your a stealth Ninja Tamer that PvPs?

 

[Guest]

Since Siege has several very specific problems. I was thinking along the lines of several months-years to tweak the petballs UO wide VS a much faster and simpler fix of just turning them off on siege. There problem solved; perhaps not the ideal solution we would like but a fix none the less.
Or we could just take matters into our own hands and camp the 2 solen queens
so no one can get any more powder.

 

[Guest]

I used 39 charges in a huge Despise fight last night. All follow/All stop/All come does frigging nothing when your pet wants to eat a slime offscreen. And from someone who knows there is a slight delay after summoning to getting your pet to attack. It always takes me 2 commands to get them to do anything after a summon.

I understand that Seige is a total different ruleset and therefore deserves different rules, if only the the dev team realized this as well we wouldn't have these problems.

On a totally close related note, do you people realize pet balls are 50% the cause of the tamer flag bug? The other 50% being the guard command. When you summon your pet you clear attacker flags, therefore making it blue to people it attacked and you susceptible to a count or being guardwhacked.

 

[Smakkatron Jones]

<blockquote><hr>

A matter of perception I guess. I see it as correcting a misuse. Only my opinion of course, but I don't feel that the developer who dreamed up the idea of the pet ball intended it to be used in the way that it is being used in pvp.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. And with a few simple, minor changes to the pet balls the PvP issues with these could be corrected easily, and without screwing up it's intended usefulness. A simple 5 second cast delay, and visual cue that a summoned pet is about to land on the battle field should be good enough to do that.

 

[Guest]

How about use 1 charge per pet slot.

I.E. Cu Sidhe would take 4 charges in one use.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

And with a few simple, minor changes to the pet balls the PvP issues with these could be corrected easily,

[/ QUOTE ]
Define "few" "simple" "minor" and "easily" in DEV speak please. We on Siege have some pretty serious issues that we would love fixed, petballs being only one.
*Is still awaiting a DEVs response*

 

[Guest]

I'm afraid I started this thread on Saturday, not the best day perhaps. I'd say at least another 24 hours before we can hope for a response from our devs.

On the other hand, we've had the weekend to gather votes and opinions so that they can better judge the general feeling of the players on the subject. 96 votes at time of this post.

They can also see what uses people put these balls to. I wonder how many of us are using them 'as intended' and how many aren't, since we none of us know just what was in the mind of their creator.

 

[Guest]

This dismount/bola AND pet summon balls should share the same timer.

Its stupid for me to be able to dismount someone, and then instantly summon my mare/beetle combination for the win.

 

[Guest]

Pet balls should be cut off.

These are pet animals we are talking about, not magical conjured or summoned creatures.

Pet balls rate among some of the stupidest additions to Ultmia Online, along with insurance, bags of sending, unlimited stock NPCs, localization, item properties, luna, trammel, etc., etc....

...when talking about stupid changes to Ultima Online, you could go on all day...

 

[imported_Max Blackoak]

i voted yes on all questions. great poll !

 

[imported_Daelomin]

Should not be able to use them while in ANIMAL FORM. Same goes for POTS and EVASION. Can not understand why this havent been sorted yet. Bola in animal was wrong. Same is potting, evasion and petballing

Use them while hidden = yes

Delay for reuse = no

Delay for pet-response = no

Make it so you cant use them while flagged as agressor. Simple fix to the endless pvp tamer - petball discussion.
Pet ball should be a tool to summon your pet from far away. Not to actively use it in combat, if you ask me.

Ability to use petball as agressor = NO

 

[Azural Kane]

bump

 

[imported_Sarphus]

I think pet balls should function like any other summon... as a spell...

They should freeze you in place while the summon is being performed allowing others to interrupt your summon. Pet balls shouldn't be abusable as part of an offensive pvp combo.

That wasn't on your survey, but I think that's what pet balls need to make them balanced.

 

[imported_MoonglowMerchant]

Sarphus,

Do you PvP?

If yes, do you get dismounted often?

If yes and yes, how do you escape/survive being dismounted?

 

[Sergul'zan_SP]

My proposed solution is this:

*20 minute timer on use of *any* petball.
*Pet balls cannot be used in animal form.
*Pet balls have a summon time equivalent to Blade Spirits.
*Remove Dismount from *all* ranged weapons (preferably all weapons...)

 

[Guest]

I am still awaiting an answer from a dev. Or at least a little input on this issue.

 

[Guest]

I gotta agree 100%, pet balls shouldn't be able to be abused in PvP like they currently are, and animal form should definitely take up a control slot. Nerf the lame techniques used only in PvP, leave our pets alone!

 

[imported_AtlanticVlad]

Ok I know I'm far form the norm here. But thats ok I now am aware of people abuseing a system that seems easy enough to fix... but Im affraid the fix may hurt me and I'd like to throw in my thoughts. I'm fine with a timer Provided... Its per ball I don't carry around 1 pet ball I have 6 or 7 maybe more. I like to summon my pets from the stable and untill 20 min ago was not aware they even worked if the pet was already near by. I propose a timer say 30 seconds or even less to stop people useing them over and over while chasing people. But that needs to be per ball I have 5 cats Id hate to wait 2 and a half min just to summon them all god... that would be dreadfull. The timer would then stop people form abuseing the ball in combat I don't for one care if they can use it in animal form I don't think that tactic should apply to someone mounted either. It's odviously not how the balls were intended to be used. So stop the unitneded use and everyone will be fine.

 

[imported_SUNCHICKEN]

DANG, I didnt see one to completely remove petballs from uo!!


Heh jking,but seriously!

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

Well ... convenient as it has been ... to use multiple balls ...
Likely the timer "won't" be per ball ...(that would make for a LOT of timers)
Likely the timer will be "On Character" ...yep ... STILL affecting "all" balls carried
to prevent multiples for ONE pet ...(to get around any timer)

the timer idea is to prevent the "hop-scotch" following of targets ...

JUST to prevent the hop-scotching follow ...

Tamers would still be able to "claim all" and teleport/gate enmass, to a destination ...
even "go old school" ... gather up and walk there ...

same method for Leaving an area ... gather up and go ...

Still retain the ability to "force a retreat" ... call from too hot a spot ...
just one -wait- by one ... not as a serial set of rapid click 1-2-3-

Not that hard to adjust to ...

MAYBE ... just the timer ... IF not ...
then
piece by piece all the other little minor adjustments:
Indication that the ball is in use, or the character is hidden, or frozen or in form or approaching combat or fleeing combat how they're flagged whether or not Pvm or PvP or both and all the other flagging issues ...

just saying ...