Simple as it sounds, i love pets and feel like some if not all should get a buff, armour and damage being the big two i feel like. I want your opinions
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I think they just got a health boost, but some of them could use more. I’m currently leveling two Sand Reaper Queens and their health is great, but they’re hitting like wet noodles.
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I would appreciate them being buffed they are currently taking up space in base. Of course rhino is just 2 red eyes. @Rust @Bootstrapwolf
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They can’t
In the current build they can’t, Until they split the pvp and pve server.ini
Imagine a buffed pet now on pvp with attributes build. You would again one shot everything.
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The Pets and Thralls had some stat adjustments awhile back.
We were told at the time, it was a work in progress, and there would be more balancing taking place.
There has been no communication about this plan for several months.
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I think the health and armor are fine.
They definitely need a damage bump. Your greater bear hits like a dancer.
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I’ve noticed this too.
I had 2 level 10 pets with me and it seemed like I was doing all the work. So I let the two pets solo a regular skeleton from the Unnamed City. They were hitting it for 5 damage per swing.
If I had god mode on this battle would take a half an hour.
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Health and armor could both use a moderate boost, but as other members have pointed out, strength is a large defecit at the moment for pets. They need to be a viable alternative to thralls, and not relegated to roleplay.
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Honestly, as they are at rock bottom right now, this one sees an opportunity for growing them into more distinct entities.
It would be excellent if pets had more distinction.
Elephants are bulky and tough, but very slow attackers.
Wolves would be quick, and do little damage each, but stack sunder to improve pack tactics.
Chitinous Critters could keep low Hp, but have very solid Armour buffs.
Rhinos like Elephants, but causing Bleed, possibly more knock down.
Bears could be high hp, but lower armour, like other furred creatures, but have attacks that Bleed.
Ect…
If every pet had their own (viable) niche, they could merit more as discount followers, and definitely improve purge defense.
Raid defense is a lost cause mostly due to AI issues that all followers (and many NPCs in general) suffer from.
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I think its a damn shame that non-mount pets are entirely useless right now. Especially considering how many special skins there are for pets in bazaar and battlepasses.
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To do this, they must have much more strength than human thralls. Pets cannot perform combos, and attack at most once every 5-6 seconds, or even less often. A lot of time is spent on terrifying growls, beating one’s chest and other animation effects. During this time, Thrall will have time to make a full combo, or even two.
I raised a large boar here. His fighting style is very characteristic. I take a thrall and a boar with me, and when I see an enemy, I give the signal to attack. Thrall immediately pulls out his mace and gets to work. The boar (to the side) makes a menacing grunt and shakes its head.
Thrall carries out combo after combo, the boar (to the side) digs the ground with its hooves, sniffles menacingly and with all its appearance shows that now it will give this enemy a hard time, right now!
Finally, the thrall finishes off the enemy, hides the mace, returns to me, and we leave. And then a deafening squeal sounds behind us, and a boar rushes like a bullet through the carcass of a defeated enemy! And if the battle took place not far from a cliff, then he flies off this cliff into the blue distance and is lost from sight.
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The boar might have the worst moveset as a follower to be honest
My favourite pet was the Undead Monstrosity, but unfortunately they removed necromancy pets 
• No RNG involved in getting it.
• Immune to Bleed/Poison etc.
• Immune to hitstun altogether!
• Very straightforward attack, very reliable.
• Brimstone for healing, no need for storage, no need to cook anything special.
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And from this set of undead, I liked the legionnaire warrior. He did not get stuck anywhere and did not hesitate, and always gave out a full combo. It worked very well. True, it was a long time ago, I don’t even know if it’s possible to get it now.
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Followers need a ground up replacement similar or maybe even more indepth than the Age of War combat update. They’ve been needing this for years now.
They’re never going to buff pets because of how easy they are to get. And they will always be subpar to thralls because of the inability to wear armor. Which will never be seen as a balancing factor because crafting good armor for a thrall is just another layer players need to go through.
Pet < Greater Pet = T1/2 Thralls < T3 Thralls < T4 Thralls.
Thats how it is, that’s how it will be (for now with the current system), and it sucks. The whole system that forces it sucks as well.
What I would like to see is a bit of a normalization. Since they have the ability to separate the damage followers do from their wild NPC counterparts. I’d like to see all thralls of the same tiers have the same growth and basic stats (modified by tribe).
This way a T4 Exile is similar in strength as a T4 Relic Hunter or Forgotten Tribe. And all T4s are stronger than all T3s, and so forth.
However all Tiers have around the same difficulty. So a T4 Exile will be as hard to get as a T4 Votarie of Skelos. In that example, they would even be a bit more scarce since there would be few T4 Exile areas compared to tribes in harder areas. There might be one or two Exile Strongholds, compared to 2-3 or more Votarie, Forgotten Tribe, or Heirs of the North.
T1 thrall camps would be relatively easy to thrall from. These would be little camps (similar to campfires seen in the noob river). Somewhat common in easy areas more or less starter areas. They would have nearly all T1 thralls with the occasional T2 leader (always a fighter/archer not crafter). They are wide open to attack from any direction like they are now. As they are pretty much just a campfire.
T2 thrall camps would be slightly larger and include tents and other very basic amenities. They would be mostly T2 thralls with the occasional T3 leader (same as above, a T3 fighter or archer but not crafter). These you would see more common as you move into the desert and first part of the jungle. You would also see them in even harder areas as these would be the most common thrall camp on the map. These would have very basic fortifications if any. Using tents and other points of interest to kind of block of some parts of entry compared to the T1 camps.
T3 thrall camps would be typical villages with small walls. T2 Thralls would make up about half of the defense with T3 making up the rest (with crafters being included). T4s would not be found here. Those are special. These places would be your outlying towns and would not be common outside the hardest areas of the map. Places like the Volcano may not have T1 or T2 camps, but only T3 camps and one T4. The fortifications mean there is only a handful of entry points.
T4 camps would be your capitols of each tribe. The rank and file would be T3 fighters and archers and they would comprise of most of the inhabitants. T4 would be guaranteed spawns, not random. However these camps function like outdoor dungeons. There’s only one way in and you cannot skip ahead to the fortified areas where the T4 thralls are located (either magic dampening devices or archers in turrets will prevent Bat’ing in, which can eventually be disabled).
In addition to breach the doors and gates you need to use siege equipment. Trebuchets, orbs, explosive arrows, etc. While you are guaranteed to get T4 thralls, you will have to put in effort into getting them. The bonus is you don’t have to wager on RNG.
The idea here is newbies would not really be punished for getting a T1 or T2 exile. They would be buffed to be just under previous tiers due to normalization (even giving them more than just 1 and 2 hit combos). And veteran players hanging out in harder areas will not have to slaughter droves and droves of T1-3 thralls to get that 0.5-1% chance of getting a T4. The effort you put in is the effort you get out.
Now… what about pets?
There needs to be a bit more effort in obtaining these. Not simply running through an area and spamming pick up. I think getting normal pets should be about as hard as T2 thralls to get. Meaning a player will need to brave a den/nest/clutch/pack/pride/etc of adults to get ahold of a normal pet.
Greater pets would be equal to T4 thralls and probably found in T4 thrall camps behind the barricades. Or in their own mini-dungeon like areas that are just as difficult to breach and have a world boss in it. But you would find the greater pet baby that has no RNG when it grows into an adult.
Now how to make pets equal to thralls (or at least like the T2 and T4 like I mentioned before.
Remove armor slots from thralls. Replace them with a single slot that is an Armor Set. These are craftable from sets of armor and give the thralls specific sets of bonuses depending on the set you make.
Now before anyone pipes in about customization. Thralls will also gain appearance slots. So you can dress them up how you wish.
In addition the pets gain a armor set as well, might even use the same items, or can even be ‘barding’ that is crafted pretty much in the same way. Now in survivability and bonus stats… Thralls and Pets are equal, neither needs to be weaker than the other. Sort of, will get into that in a bit.
But weapons… that’s what makes pets and thralls different.
You choose the combo and damage type a thrall does by giving them specific weapons. Pets are done by choosing a specific animal type. Pets will favor damage as their inbuilt damage will be slightly higher than similar tier thralls. But their base defense will be a bit lower. Exceptions to this rule would be in animals like Rocknoses, Kappa, and other ‘tanky’ types which would have lower damage but higher defense than thralls.
The whole idea is a T4 is a T4, T3 is T3, T2 is T2, and T1 is T1… no matter where they are from. But they also take the same effort. Same with pets. Same effort to obtain as thralls. But they also will have similar strengths so there isn’t this weird system balance that just no one likes.
With PVE sieges coming in Chapter 3. This idea that I have posted several times over the years is closer to being feasible. It could even be tied to the new purge system as it that wouldn’t require sections of the map to be redone as much as my initial idea.
Another idea separate to the large indepth idea (but not mutually exclusive) shown above is to remove levels from thralls and pets. And they simply get the equivelent of level 20 stats when trained up. This has been the source of contention for dozens of issues players have.
Losing pets and thralls to PVE. To PVP. And to glitches, server hiccups, admin hiccups, and so forth has been a primary source of frustration for years. This is due to the amount of time spent training followers only to have them get dashed away to an event that frequently players have little control over.
We can still have perks, and be able to reset them with the elixir. But just get rid of the leveling system itself. There is already a bunch of time spent obtaining the thrall or pet in the first place. Why does it need to be added to, especially when a bad move, a single glitch, or even an ounce of lag could wipe them out in seconds?
Time spent =/= difficulty. And therefor leveling followers doesn’t make the game more difficult. Removing it doesn’t make the game easier. Leveling followers makes the game more tedious. Not having to level them removes the tedium.
Judging by the complaints many PVP and PVE focused players have with followers, this would aid in some of the problem points they have, thus it is a change that would mostly benefit both playstyles, so no worry about changes for one affecting the other. The changes are with both in mind, and to fix issues with both. Offliners won’t like it as much, but they’re free to express why if they want to try.
3 Likes
The only wibble this one would have is the artificiality of sorcery dampening in capital regions.
If it were a trait generated at their main shrine/by a boss priest, sorcerer group, or summoned demon, that would easily silence this one’s only gripe about your solution set.
In short, bravo, well thought out solution.
I bought the skeleton dog from the bazaar. It has the same diet as the old necromancy pets. It almost died to poison though (sandreapers,) and it wasn’t immune to stun. Not sure if this is an oversight or if removing this utility is planned.
What is weird to me is that they do not have a regular dog/wolf diet.
Aren’t they supposed to be cosmetic only?
Funcom is a bit inconsistent 
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Undead means something else post 3.0. Zombies are also affected by poison and such.
It would be very localized and something you could destroy. Its more of a way to prevent a softlock than to hinder sorcerers. I didn’t clarify that.
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Honestly, adding extra layers to capital defense would be nice.
Leaving the Lemurians aside (one manky camp does not a capital, nor even a faction worthy of being noted as such, make) as they are an under represented anomaly, all capitals are just too easy to roflstomp.
More layers of defense, which would have to be strategically neutralized or very subtly avoided, to actually scrub the places and down the leaders would be a greatly appreciated update in and of themselves, New Asagarth has always been effectively a sheep pen, and the Mounds of the Dead might as well be the barrels of fish. We aren’t trapped in the Summoning Place with the Cannibals, they’re trapped in there with the Exiled.
And placing the Prizes, the names tier 4s, the small animals who can be raised into the advanced pets, ect, in a hard to crack location is something this one feels would be beneficial.
Yes, the game must be accessible and have a reasonable learning curve… But it doesn’t need to easy at every turn.
Perhaps a solo player, on default settings, should find raiding a capital near impossible. A thing worthy of bragging about? Or rather, that is where the difficulty should be, at the just barely possible but extremely challenging for a solo?
1 Like