Shattered Kingdoms

Ilkaisha, I'm shocked by your lack of faith. Anyways, the last supermodel I dated was also a successful CEO. I must admit that it's been a couple months since I've hung out with models, though.

I also want to commend Jhorleb for being so modest. Judging by how frequently he agrees with me, I think it's safe to assume that he is similar to me in other relevant ways, and that he spends a good portion of his time with supermodels. However, I've noticed that not once has he brought this up in the forums. You're a better man than I am, Jhorleb!

I'm just saying . . . pics or it didn't happen. And if you have pics, they were obviously photochopped.

Jhorleb, however, is probably living at the playboy mansion.

I am total believer, baldric is definitely dating models.

And to bring the topic back on track (somewhat), I do agree with baldric and jhorleb that any pet wimps (or should I say tweaks) should be taken into careful consideration before action is taken.

If nothing else, one can always have special pet shops for specific classes which might require somewhat stronger pets than simple mounts to get around.

It would seem to me that with the way Hellions/Paladins have their own class specific mounts that this could be done easily for other classses. Perhaps even take it a step further and have additional "guilds" created for certain classses. Perhaps a theology school for the clergy. There could be some trainers, a pet shop, perhaps a place to buy vials for priests only. It would be accessable via a quest. A similar notion could be easily adapted for bards, or perhaps just modify some things in the Zhensh ampitheater. For sorcs, add a pet shop in the Torrum.

Suffice it to say though a broad scale wimping of pets is unwise as it will be more harmful to the support classes that need that sort of thing. PK viability aside, sometimes just walking the roads in the realms are unreasonably dangerous even for a strong priest.

I agree that pets should be tweaked. Perhaps they should be further diminished so that they only are one (instead of two) of the four: flying, bashing, mounted, special feature. I could also see limiting their top level by one status rank. Anything we do with pets should come from a new areacheck guideline instead of a general building guideline.

There already is one, and only sorcs can get to it, but the pets there aren't anywhere near lion from garazul quality.

If you want to limit pets abilities, make it so we can stand front row easier? Perhaps make it so you get a couple rounds of lag from being bashed or tripped, but then you have a "get up" period where you cannot be bashed or tripped but are able to act, this would give people a way to front line and still do something without being spam bashed and they the bashed person cannot just leave right a way, similar to a taunt affect but allow people to somewhat act.

Please don't just gank our storebought pets without throwing us a bone as an offset, squishy classes need pets just to function.

I don't particularly see this as the issue. It is more the strength of the pet that is being called into question. I agree, the lions are a bit much and I don't use them partially for that reason and partially because I just can't see Thyki running around with a lion. Pet choice for me is RP based more than functionality. With that in mind, the idea of only having a fewer stronger pets that are available only to certain classes makes me a bit sad, but at the same time, I see this as a viable solution to the issue at hand.

Another issue I see with addressing the pet situation is sorcs. On one hand, sorcs are super squishy and should in that sense have access to a decent strength pet. On the other hand, sorcs also get charms which pretty much go without compare but are limited. So where do you draw the line for sorcs? There are limited charmable gm NPCs, and when you lose your charm, you'll want to have a strong pet there as back up. Or is this perhaps an acceptable limitation to sorcs to make them a little less awesome. I am not sure. I've never played a sorc. Just throwing out some things to think about.

Its as Dxex here said. Not only is it the pets fault, but also the bash / trip system. As it stands now, trip can be avoided by means, but bash is an almost instant death sentence once yer front row. Bards are incredibly squishy and even in mood defensive with mastered dodge and half weight (or less) they still get wtfpwnd with the insane damage output that PC's are capable of. Really all a melee has to do is bashbashbashbashbashbash and it's game over unless they miss once.

The fact that once yer bash locked there is no means of escape. Take in account that a pet can bash as well as a warrior and you have double the bashes to avoid. My bard was spam bashed by a lion at one point in time and I couldn't do anything to escape while the priest just spammed harm. While bash should be powerful, it shouldn't be as powerful as it is. Prone in itself stops all quaffing of potions or reciting of scrolls. In most fights, it's determined by who lands the first bash. Make it so there is a 1 or 2 round delay so the person can actually act (choose to run or whatnot) and not be bashbashbashed to death.

The whole NPC war mentality is true because, due to bash, EVERY person has to have a pet that can either A. rescue them or B. bash the opponent for them. That's just my 2 cents though.

FYI: If you've had a tamed pet longer than the most recent changes to tame, it's possible that you can currently tame two animals instead of only one. If you are a scout in this situation, please either replace your out-of-date pets or stick to only using one until it ends up dying naturally. If you see a scout abusing this loophole, let them know they need to stop. Thanks!