Animist controlled pet behavior change request

[shoke]

Hi,

I'd like to propose a change to the animist class.

As of now, the animist is a strong zerg class and can be good in 8 man groups. In smallman and lower situations, it is not the greatest class. In group and zerg play, you usually have more space/time to be able to set up correctly and use the pets in an impactful way.

In smallman and solo situations, the reaction time is drastically smaller and therefore most of the time you need to preemptively drop shrooms in preparation for a fight you don't know is going to happen, because the odds of having enough time to drop a significant amount of shrooms in a short time is very small.

While it's part of the design of the class, I feel like we could elevate the animist usefullness in smallmans and ability in solo by bringing the moving/following controllable pets.

However, through discussions in the animist discord channels, it is generally accepted that simply copying what Live did isn't the best approach and a middle ground should be achieved.

Proposal:

- Keep the controllable pets from each line the same (in terms of abilities), but allow them to follow the animist around.
- The pet would be able to move only when put on passive.
- The pet would be rooted when put on attack/aggro/defense.

Effect:

solo-smallman : The main benefit to the animist is that the controllable pet would be buffed and available when facing opponents in pvp. Depending on the spec, it would allow the animist to be able to get space (Creep snaring pet) to be able to put some shrooms down. It would still be avoidable by enemy players by running out of the limited 1000 range of the pet and it would require proper pet control from the animist to be used properly.

Group: It would allow the animist to use his pet but only for close range targets (ex pushing tanks), it wouldn't have much of an effect on overall group balance. This pet mechanic wouldn't allow the animist to put his pet on an enemy support as an example.

Zerg: It would be a slight nerf because it wouldn't allow animists to summon that shroom in places not accessible by the following controlled pet (example windows). I think this is acceptable because the animist currently performs well in keeps and zerg play.

pve : It would allow the animist to change camps without having to clear and rebuff his main shroom every time, which is time consuming and boring.

Conclusion
Changing the pet behavior to follow only when passive would be a quality of life change in pve, while being a slight buff in solo and smallman situations where animists are underperformers (unless given the time to camp in one specific spot, which is very easy to avoid and extremely boring for the animist).

[_efke]

Agreed on all proposals, i hope devs consider it.

[bugdruid]

I also agree. It would really be a great adjustment to the class that often is just seen as a PvE bot. I hope the devs see the feedback and consider it for next season. :]

[Chaskha]

Looks like a good idea, not too OP

[vonwar.]

I fully disagree I play Animist here, and i really do not understand the reason why the DEV here simply not just copy what we are used to from the Live servers. It is a nerfing thing with this pet that is grounded all the time, not so much in RvR but especially in PVE. We also need the ML's here so we can start farming using ML9 pets.
It is nerfing and boring when we miss out essential skills of the Animist and other classes just because this is a free shard.

[shoke]

Bumping this because it would be a great modification to a class that struggles in solo.

There are some classes that go from great to OP in all scenarios (BD as an example), I don't see how this change to a class that performs fairly poorly in solo would be bad for the server balance.

[Ebenezer]

I fully disagree I play Animist here, and i really do not understand the reason why the DEV here simply not just copy what we are used to from the Live servers. It is a nerfing thing with this pet that is grounded all the time, not so much in RvR but especially in PVE. We also need the ML's here so we can start farming using ML9 pets.
It is nerfing and boring when we miss out essential skills of the Animist and other classes just because this is a free shard.

Copying Live (at a later patch level than here) means you are restricted to just one mobile pet in your primary specline. Having a choice of any controlled you spent points to get is better. Other pet classes get to choose from multiple pets for different situations.
It (the Live mobile) also provides no benefit to Animists who are leveling up (and thus are moving locations constantly), as they have to wait until L40 at a minimum (and likely later, as they'll have some points in a secondary line).

Mobile on passive only, with any controlled, fixes both of those. And yet keeps Animists from having a controlled that runs about on it's own farming or engaging enemies. You'd have to manage it, or people would simply run out of range.

It's a fairly conservative solution overall as well - you could do further adjustment by allowing the pet to move while on "defense", or even all the time, if after some playtesting more help was needed.

This is a good idea, and big thanks to shoke for fleshing out my half-baked idea and writing it up here, instead of just leaving it as me dreaming aloud in the animist channel.

[Bullmoose]

I want this so very badly.