Might I have a survivable Prestige Pet, please?

[Sarn]

Might you consider adding Gun Drone survivability to our prestige pets that we get from the P2W vendor? They just give small bonuses, but some of us are attached to them, since they are "with us" (until they are gone in a blink in combat) from Day 1. 

Thanks for the consideration. 

[MTeague]

I could care less about the Shield Drone, etc. 

But if things like the German Shepherd Pet could get destroyed in combat, I'd be power-sad.

[Arbegla]

The prestige pets can be buffed, and benefit from the Pet Auras. I'd love for them to be able to take more than a single hit, but as their bonus is basically 'free' I understand why they aren't durable at all.

[Jarrakul]

I don't really mind that the buff pets die easily, because they're providing an actual bonus for free, albeit a pretty small one. However, I do like their models, and wish we could have invincible non-buffing versions for cosmetic purposes.

[Ry]

I like the Prestige Pets conceptually, they're cute and fun.

 

But mechanically, they need a serious buff. The fact that anything in the game can one shot them makes their buffs completely pointless. Even with T4 Barrier at the helm of your arsenal there's no way these little guys are gonna survive any fight. If the problem is you get these buffs for free, then increase the cost of using them in exchange for the buffs/survivability being better. Maybe make them cost more endurance or something? I dunno. They've essentially been worthless from their release aside from going "Awwh cute little robot!" etc.

 

And while we're on the subject, why not make the Vanity Pets have stats/buffs/health/endurance etc? I know they're just meant to be for appearances and to follow you around and look cool but COME ON - are you seriously telling me none of you would want one of the Lions added to your Beast Mastery arsenal? Or have the little Spider pet shoot webs to immobilize enemies?

 

I know there's a lot of those pets in question so making them combat ready would be a bit of work, but I'm sure assets could be recycled to achieve this. If folks would rather keep them non-combat that's fine, I won't whine. But I'd still like the Prestige Pets to be buffed, at least, some of them are just so darn cute and I'd like them to be somewhat usable. I'm not expecting them to be game breaking or anything like that but as they are now, their inclusion is pointless 😞

[Black Zot]

On 5/17/2021 at 3:42 PM, Arbegla said:

The prestige pets can be buffed, and benefit from the Pet Auras. 

 

None of which matters on a 1hp target that dies if you leave the ground for any reason.

[Arbegla]

10 hours ago, Black Zot said:

 

None of which matters on a 1hp target that dies if you leave the ground for any reason.

 

Softcapped prestige pets are actually really hard to kill. I've managed to keep mine alive for entire missions without having to refresh it. Though I did also name it 'Lucky Charm'...

[siolfir]

On 5/25/2021 at 9:21 AM, Ry said:

But mechanically, they need a serious buff. The fact that anything in the game can one shot them makes their buffs completely pointless. Even with T4 Barrier at the helm of your arsenal there's no way these little guys are gonna survive any fight. If the problem is you get these buffs for free, then increase the cost of using them in exchange for the buffs/survivability being better. Maybe make them cost more endurance or something? I dunno. They've essentially been worthless from their release aside from going "Awwh cute little robot!" etc.

They're not that useful because they weren't supposed to be that useful when they were first made.

 

Since it was a veteran reward, there were concerns about making them too powerful since they were a matter of haves and have-nots, and no way other than subscription time to change that. Now that anyone can get them, I could understand the point that they should probably live a little longer than they do, but they were originally intended to be hard to keep alive as a balance point for getting a free buff: that's why a power was added specifically to make them easy to kill if targeted. They're enough of a nuisance to keep alive that I don't even bother to get one.

 

And because it is a free buff, I'd hesitate to provide too many hit points: just getting rid of the -maxHP line and leaving the -resistance alone (so they always take quadruple damage) would effectively give them more hit points than an Underling. I also think that the whole idea is just even more power creep; the +damage (3%) and +recovery (5%) isn't great, but the 5% resistance to all or 2.5% base defense can be very meaningful when stacked with everything else that's far more readily available to players now than it was when the pets were added.

 

Edit to add: remove the defense and resistance from the buff and I'd have no problem giving underling (or even minion) hp without the -res: at that point they're still splitting aggro and that's probably more useful than the +dam or +recovery buff, so I wouldn't want them to have full "pet" hp (which is more than four ATs get, and the same as five others!)

Edited May 26, 2021 by siolfir

[Ry]

I can understand that @siolfir in regards to back on live, but now? They're just a meaningless buff that dies on impact. And yes atm its free, but doesnt have to be. Lots of useful powers in thr P2W vendor do cost influence, why not these? And make them WORTH said cost.

 

Again, its a minor thing. If they never get touched its w/e, it'd still be nice, though 🙂

[TraumaTrain]

I just want to be able to name the vanity pets with visible names. 

[Arbegla]

17 hours ago, TraumaTrain said:

I just want to be able to name the vanity pets with visible names. 

 

You can do that already, via the pet menu. If you can't access that, I think you can right click on the pet itself, and a 'rename' option is there.

[PeregrineFalcon]

Siolfir's post matches my aging memory of posts made by the devs, or community managers, back on live.

 

But since everyone can get the pet for free now I'd suggest just giving the pets 40% defense to everything, and not buffing them in any other way. This makes them useful for soloers and low level characters, but still nearly worthless at higher levels where no more buffs are needed.