Pet shields! (and pets in general)

[tommy]

Hi all!

I wanted to start a discussion on pets, and find out what peoples thoughts are on where the balance is between enjoyability of having a pet master; the rigours of having a big pet shield to defend the SH, and the amount of energy and prep that takes compared the the energy and prep of invading tanks (and the destruction of said pet shield).

Obviously the (relatively) recent updates of passive pet regeneration, and with pets now giving you experience, is a massive incentive as they are going need less upkeep, and help you level much faster.
But I feel like the upkeep required to create a giant pet shield, that can then be rolled over by a Tank who doesnt need to use much AP (mostly just pre-raid prep), is not currently balanced the best way.
I also feel like there are some issues with the scalability of pet shields for low level factions vs high level ones.

So where am I going with all this? I don't really know! I love the game, so am not criticising it, just trying to get peoples opinions and ideas to keep improving it!

I think passive regen is great, but I think if someone is taking the time to regen their pets manually, then the regen cost should be cheaper (maybe 75%?), but I also think, that having a bigger pet horde should effect the regen cost (or base cost) as well.
Maybe pets could have a tiered regen/ cost, based on how many of that type you have?
I wonder if there is also a way to cause tanks to use more AP when tanking, rather than it being a process where you chug all your pots and abilities, then sit there watching your health, to pop a healing potion when you get low.
I know that we don't want to swing the favour too heavily into the defenders side, because then no one would ever raid.

Finally is my point about the scalability of pet shields in smaller factions. I feel like if a smaller faction has a pet master, they are almost impervious to other smaller factions who don't have designated tanks. Now obviously they could ally, or go hire a tank. But maybe if in SH pets had a defence % disadvantage (so that people could hit them more easily- due to the fact its inside and the pets can't move around as much? ) then it would encourage smaller factions to raid more, because they could all jump in, and actually kill the pets, and then take out the forts/ finish raid, etc.

Anyway, just some thoughts there! Would love to know yours!

[Repth]

Interesting thoughts, especially the decreased defense, since the issue at hand is essentially pets dying to auras. Then again, I'm not sure decreased defense is going to do much for someone stepping into a SH with 40ish pets waiting to all attack at once. Still, it's an interesting idea.

I have been playing my PM lately and am admittedly frustrated when my horde that took a couple days to build up to is wiped out almost instantly while netting me 1 xp per hit. Sometimes it feels futile, why bother with a pet wall when I know they're so easy to take down? If the answer is to prevent factions without tanks from raiding you, I think that can be accomplished with a much smaller horde.

Your suggestion about pet wall size scaling somehow, rejuv cost or otherwise, is also interesting. Maintining a smaller horde is easier due to mp costs though so perhaps a new mechanic would have to be introduced, not sure.
_________________
hi

[haliphax]

There's definitely some tiers involved. I was talking with Wozzy about it a bit the other day, due to similar frustrations. Having any pets at all saves you from solo dicks wandering by and steamrolling you. Having up to ~30 means someone needs a relatively serious tank to get at you. Having ~45 means they need a serious tank. Having 60+ generally means it will take more than one tank to drop the wall. The numbers in between are mostly inconsequential, as they are not effectively better than the watermark for the tier, and not yet as good as the next watermark...

Just a thought to add to the discussion.
_________________
// haliphax // wiki page // /

[Dissident]

It's going to be hard to discuss pets without discussing raid dynamics. There's been past thread opened regarding pets that sadly end up without a resolution.

I feel you need to be able to answer design questions if you want to change pets.

Should pets be able to stop a raid or slow it down?

How much harder do you want tanking to be? Be reminded that you can't tank without your factions potion logistics.

Should pets be able to clear factions easily too? OPnades can do that too as both are high-preps but OPnades can't passively defend raids.

How much harder do we need the raids to be? Do you know that a single active most of the time stops a raid and then comes discord pings?

[haliphax]

Eh, you get hit enough in a single pet tick, and a healing potion isn't going to save you because you won't have enough time to quaff it.
_________________
// haliphax // wiki page // /

[Kandarin]

In B5 some classes that don't have tank potential are getting it.

We shouldn't reward tediousness, re: manual rejuvs.