Vet needs help

[[JD]]

I’m probably preaching to the choir on this, but is anyone else bothered by just how poor Vet is compared to other skills?

About its only usefulness is resurrecting a pet.

In many instances you can’t get near your pet to vet because of area of effect spells or target switching mobs.

Yet at the same time for a tamer, it’s pretty much a required skill. Having to wait 5-10 minutes and then paying large sums of gold to res the pet at an NPC isn’t practical when you spend so many points for a skillset.

Neither is relying on a buff spell you have to obsessively-compulsively re-cast over and over again every few minutes on your pet (Gift of Life).

It seems the best solution is to train Vet not very high and then swap in items when you need to res. You can train Vet to 64, and have a +13 vet ring/bracer which can be swapped in with 1 keypress to total 90 vet. And rely on chivalry or magery to heal the rest of the time.

Vet is great when you can stand next to or on top of your pet and vet while healing. I have a system where I can use a bandage on a pet, and while the bandage is doing its thing (takes 2 seconds) I can also cast a heal. Both land at roughly the same time. But those opportunities are so few and far between.

Maybe they can suspend the realism on vetting and let us use magical bandages which can vet from afar, at reduced healing power.

It is sad that the same 100 points spent on Magery is 100 times more useful with all its utility than 100 points spent on Vetting. Except when you need to res.

It just seems like the skill needs a lot of help.

 

[Silverbird]

Very often you can avoid target switching from monsters by teleporting besides your pet. Unless you move the monsters keeps hitting your pet. (Though some other actions might take attention of the monster from your pet to you ... things like casting invis. Thought I never had problems with vetting unless it was an ae casting monster.)

 

[jeza]

and it's even easier with peace, you can area peace when you move to get near your pet without being targeted and then cast invis until the mob targets your pet again. Or just peace the mob if he's barding level isn't too high.
Or you can stay still and call your pet to you then make it retarget the mob once they are close enough.

In fact except the area damage from some mobs I never had too much problem getting near my pet and vetting.
Of course it's harder with casting mobs or paragons but not impossible.

And then when you're in a situation when you know you cant, well that's what Cu's are for

 

[[JD]]

Well heck if you use your magery to teleport or music+peacemaking to use vet, I'm gonna use my tamer buddy to res. Problem solved right?!

I'm kidding of course, but the fact you're suggesting to use entirely other skill lines just to get Vet to work is probably a tad of an indicator that Vet needs a little help

 

[jeza]

Well no skill is perfect, and vet is different but no less than other healing skills IMO :

you fingers slip while healing and I wish it would be faster
your spells frizzle while casting heal and you lack of mana sometimes or even regs until you have a 100%LRC suit
And you have to be close to your pet to vet and you risk to be targeted


But if the devs wanted to change things and make us able to vet from a distance, well who would I be to refuse ?

 

[Wenchkin]

Actually you can simply move within range to vet and step back and avoid a stack of risk around area effect monsters. That's all I do and it works wonders. It helps if you have good enough resists on your armour so you don't get one hit killed by a target switch.

Another thing you can do with vet is heal while walking with your pet in tow. When would you do that? When you can't or don't want to recall out to save a pet on low health but the monster is still attacking your pet. You tell the pet to stop and follow you and walk slowly within vet range so that your pet is being vetted up while kept out of claw range of the monster it's fighting.

I can't see me ever lowering vet on my tamers though. It may not be a perfect skill, but I wouldn't be without it.

Wenchy

 

[uoBuoY]

You didn't mention...

Vet = Stable Slots

 

[Gellor]

I'm a legendary vet and wouldn't have it any otherway.

In my experience, I can heal more damage quicker using vet than magery. But I do use magery as a secondary source for healing.

As the wench said, it is usually a simple case of stepping back out of area range. As for the target switchers, my experience has been that I run up on my pet, invis, and then start healing. As long as I don't move, I don't get targetted

 

[[JD]]

In my experience, fighting stuff with AOEs (such as even a succubus), is that if I try to get close to vet and I am hit by any kind of spell, be it damage, or poison, I immediately shoot to the top of the creature's "Hate List" and it stops attacking my pet and attacks me. Moving away does nothing as it just nukes me. Invis works to erase me from the hate list, but then I have to move out of range or risk get hit and placed on the hate list again. The way it works makes Vet useless to me for many encounters. I'd prefer to heal via Magery, at a distance, and I don't need to screw with any of that.

 

[Tina Small]

I would never get rid of vet skill. I usually lock it at 110 or 105 because I can rarely fit in more than that. As it is, keeping it at 110 or 105 puts meditation skill in a pinch on my peace tamers, but I value vet over meditation skill in most instances.

I mostly rely on using vet skill when the pet is killing a monster with no area effect. I supplement with heal spells if the fight is intense enough and my tamer has on decent FC/FCR jewelry and some MR/LMC gear. Otherwise I just stick with vetting and pay close attention to the sound of the bandage working and/or keep an eye on the bandage timer in UOAssist or the Enhanced Client.

When you're up against some monsters that use spellweaving or drop puddles of goo that you need to avoid, there's usually a spot where it's safe for your tamer to stand and not get hit with the fields or to not end up in a puddle. You just have to experiment a bit to find that spot. For other stuff, e.g., something with a fire/heat type of effect, you'll have to use spells and if things really go south, do as Wenchkin suggested. Tell the pet to follow you and heal it with bandages either as you slowly walk away (if the mob's damaged enough to slow it to a walking speed even slower than yours and the pet's), or run a short distance away and slap on a bandage or two before the monster catches up with your pet and you step out of its area effect range again. And above all, be smart and know when the situation is getting out of hand and just bail out while you can. There's also nothing wrong with backing away for a bit if you and the pet need a breather and then jumping back in to finish the job.

 

[Uthar Pendragon]

I would have to agree with you Tina. But I would like to toss this idea out there as well.

What if vet gave a bonus to the heal/g. heal spell? This should not exceed what you would get from 120 mage heal/g. heal, but give a suppliment to those tamers who are unable to or cannot run with 120 mage due to template/scroll.

Just an idea.

 

[RichDC]

I would have to agree with you Tina. But I would like to toss this idea out there as well.

What if vet gave a bonus to the heal/g. heal spell? This should not exceed what you would get from 120 mage heal/g. heal, but give a suppliment to those tamers who are unable to or cannot run with 120 mage due to template/scroll.

Just an idea.

I have 120vet and 120mage...the healing is awesome but ill be dropping magery down a bit soon i feel.

Ive never had a problem with vet and i rarely...RARELY ever use a GD! Most mobs die so fast that i dont need to vet them, if i do...theres always a safe place/tactic you can use to vet your pet!

Ill be honest actually, the only time i dont use vet is when fighting Shimmer. Thats the only time i will cast heal. Oh, im also not one of those tamers who cares if my pet dies once in a while, there always trained back to full against anything that can kill them anyway!

 

[Wenchkin]

In my experience, fighting stuff with AOEs (such as even a succubus), is that if I try to get close to vet and I am hit by any kind of spell, be it damage, or poison, I immediately shoot to the top of the creature's "Hate List" and it stops attacking my pet and attacks me. Moving away does nothing as it just nukes me. Invis works to erase me from the hate list, but then I have to move out of range or risk get hit and placed on the hate list again. The way it works makes Vet useless to me for many encounters. I'd prefer to heal via Magery, at a distance, and I don't need to screw with any of that.

Why do you think I said you should have good armour?

Not all are effect mobs hit with the same frequency. Those who virtually constantly spam (succubus seem to always be on area) aren't as suitable as those who drop area effects in between their normal attacks. But they're still do-able.

Supporting a pet with vet is only part of your "job" as tamer though. Vet success isn't purely about getting close enough to your pets. It's the damage the mob is able to do, and the duration your pet is fighting that mob before it dies. You can influence both of those. If you can end the fights swiftly, you can vet normally between spawns. If you can reduce the damage your pet takes in the first place, that obviously means you need to vet or heal less. No need to cast heals at all in some cases.

Take succubus for example. Nipping in and out to vet isn't the best answer there. But if I take my disco tamer instead of my mage tamer, it's easy to kill them. I vet between respawns without any trouble. Likewise if I had an archer who could stand back and fire alongside my pet, that's another option. It's not a one size fits all deal I'm afraid, you need to change tactics depending where you are.

Thing is though, few monsters are area effect spammers, so unless you have an obsession with succubus, vet skill is absolutely fine for most encounters.

Wenchy

 

[Tina Small]

Good advice, Wenchkin. I rarely tangle with succubus. Just doesn't quite seem worth the effort. I also think I've got too many bad memories of running into the paragon versions not long after I started playing with a tamer character.

 

[A Rev]

Why do you think I said you should have good armour?

Not all are effect mobs hit with the same frequency. Those who virtually constantly spam (succubus seem to always be on area) aren't as suitable as those who drop area effects in between their normal attacks. But they're still do-able.

Supporting a pet with vet is only part of your "job" as tamer though. Vet success isn't purely about getting close enough to your pets. It's the damage the mob is able to do, and the duration your pet is fighting that mob before it dies. You can influence both of those. If you can end the fights swiftly, you can vet normally between spawns. If you can reduce the damage your pet takes in the first place, that obviously means you need to vet or heal less. No need to cast heals at all in some cases.

Take succubus for example. Nipping in and out to vet isn't the best answer there. But if I take my disco tamer instead of my mage tamer, it's easy to kill them. I vet between respawns without any trouble. Likewise if I had an archer who could stand back and fire alongside my pet, that's another option. It's not a one size fits all deal I'm afraid, you need to change tactics depending where you are.

Thing is though, few monsters are area effect spammers, so unless you have an obsession with succubus, vet skill is absolutely fine for most encounters.

Wenchy

Very good points, Pet selection is also part of a tamers "job".

Using a cu on succubus for example reduces the damage your pet takes, increases the damage they do and they heal themselves!

Just bringing out a GD doesnt make you a tamer.

 

[jeza]

I find succubus very easy to kill with a decent Cu with at least 80 85 in all skills

I usually spend at least half to one hour at it every time I log with my tamer .
I use it to train my pet's resist and healing skill or raising honor or regaining my fame/title after gaining sacrifice.

With my peace tamer it's very easy,I don't even vet my pet between spawns, i just take care to stay away from the next succubus until my pet finished healing itself. It's a good way to raise healing up to 90.

If a succubus targets my cu before it's fully healed I just peace it until my pet is ready.

But a good Cu close to GM can easily chain at least 2 without any help from me.

I went with a GD once just to compare and beside the hassle going there (fan dojo), it's so much easier riding your Cu, i didn't find the GD more efficient than my Cu.

Same as i prefer a combo mare/rune to kill a swoop rather than a GD, even if in both situations the GD is able to manage.

 

[Llewen]

I tend to use magery more to heal my pets now than I used to, but I still love vet. Even only being able to res a pet is worth the price of admission as far as I am concerned, and when you add stable slots on to that, it is definitely worth it. I only have GM vet, but I wouldn't want it any lower than that.

 

[[JD]]

I tend to play more crowded templates which need to be PVP viable. 100, 110, or 120 points is a lot to dedicate to something of situational use. I just find the skill lacking. So for me, vet is up on the chopping block first because those points can be better used elsewhere.

I do agree the ability to res is the defining reason to have vet, so the best solution for me is to train it to 74, and swap in +13 vet ring/bracelets via macro when I want to res or access the additional stable spot.

Thanks for your thoughts.