defixio
Dalayan Elder
The Necromancer Runic pet is a spell caster which makes it very fun to use, and unique, which is great! It has some problems though. Mostly with mana regen and when it chooses to do certain things. This is a list of player suggestions that I feel like would make the runic pet more usable, or at the least more consistent (and with consistency will come the ability to actually compare it for balance's sake).
Issues:
I. Mana Regen
A. Meditation/ mana regen
1. If you move the pet stops meditating until you stop moving and it sits down again. it follows you VERY closely which doesn't help the issue.
2. The pet will not begin to meditate in a fight even if you order it to sit
3. The pet will not meditate if ordered to hold, or guard (which prevents you from making the pet sit in one spot to facilitate mana regen).
4. if a height difference exists between master and pet (such as levitation) it will never sit and never recover mana appreciably fast.
5. Doesn't seem to get mana back from strands of life kills for master or group mates.
6. it won't "start" meditating if you are in combat, but it will continue if you never move. (meaning if you never move your feet at all, which is odd to do in a group environment most of the time).
7. When out of mana it cast/interrupts over and over several times a second, (potentially spamming the server?) and making a horrible sound.
II. Spell rotation, usage, survivability
A. Low Health
1. The pet doesn't choose when to lifetap well. If it is in melee , it will tap when injured.
2. If it takes AE damage, it doesn't care (addressed with Pet AOE improvment )
3. it seems to go into "tap mode" when defensive at 50, maybe that should be closer to 80 so it has time to get a tap off before it's dead some times.
4. I think the spell rotation/spells used may need a little adjustment but I think we should try to fix the mana issue before seriously considering looking at this.
III. Itemization
1. Mage summoned gear doesn't really give caster stats. it does enhance the overall survivability of the pet, but it doesn't have a huge problem with survival even naked.
2. BST Collar doesn't really help the caster pet.
3. Its hard to give the caster pet spell proccs that enhance it's performance as you can with various proccing no race trash drops/summon gear.
4. Does the caster pet really benefit from pet strength foci? can it some how? maybe a larger mana pool?
5. If i'm not mistaken, casting silk at a pet overwrites the other non weapon gear on the pet, can we make that not overwrite existing gear? in the event that you slip your caster pet some caster proccing bracers.
6. looking over all the cool none/none (pet items) available and there aren't really any bracers for cool proccs. any chance of getting some added in places that drop such items? such as emberflow, cita, or anywhere else.
7. alternately (more coding intensive) the pet could just have a chance to procc it's melee weapons, when casting x%/100 mana.
8. It feels like the necromancer's itemization doesn't enhance the survivability of the pet much. maybe companion health item should also increase saves and AC some too? just a thought
IV. Suggested fixes!
1. Give the pet a 0 mana small nuke it can use when out of mana. drain soul is a suggestion. 338 damage with cast time of 6.1. keeps it alive, does some dps (i,a,7)
2. Make a thurgadin bounty box that sells proccing bracers, make them emulate the function of the other thurgadin pet weapons. offensive procs, aoe etc. bonus points if the procc drains mana for pet. flowing thought! (III,3)
3. summoned item suggestions: For silks I'd suggest: Add spell crit to hands, add mana to all silks, add spell procc to silk bracers (to match the melee proc on rune sword?), For the BST collar i'd suggest: Add mana, about 15-20 FT (III1,2))
3. The mana regen on the pet is out of wack, it can't possibly stay active for more than 1.5 fights no matter what mana regen you put on it. I'd suggest it needs either a HUGE innate FT, Gain mana on each kill, give it infinite mana effectively (just give it a spell rotation) or (suggestion 4) ((I,A)
4. Remove the meditation mechanic. make it never have to worry with sitting/meditating and just give it as much FT as it currently gains in mana per tick while it meditates. this eliminates all the complications involved and should be easiest to implement. (I, A, 1,2,3,4,6 and partially 7 if it's low less)
5. If meditation is within the vision of the pet. can it be made to not autofollow? we can pull it to us with recall minion any time we need it, let the poor thing meditate without me waking it up while being main looter. (I,A, 1,2,3,4)
6. A better spell rotation is suggested (though i don't have a good suggestion for that and honestly we should tackle mana regen in an isolated way then compare the pet at that point. i've never seen it consistently cast effectively)
7. unrelated to actual balance, but the crusty brown/burned skelly doesn't look super cool. could it be jet black, or blue, or some other cool shiney color?
edit: added I: 6, 7 and reworded 4: 3
edit: struck off II:2 for the Pet AOE improvment. Thanks staff!
Issues:
I. Mana Regen
A. Meditation/ mana regen
1. If you move the pet stops meditating until you stop moving and it sits down again. it follows you VERY closely which doesn't help the issue.
2. The pet will not begin to meditate in a fight even if you order it to sit
3. The pet will not meditate if ordered to hold, or guard (which prevents you from making the pet sit in one spot to facilitate mana regen).
4. if a height difference exists between master and pet (such as levitation) it will never sit and never recover mana appreciably fast.
5. Doesn't seem to get mana back from strands of life kills for master or group mates.
6. it won't "start" meditating if you are in combat, but it will continue if you never move. (meaning if you never move your feet at all, which is odd to do in a group environment most of the time).
7. When out of mana it cast/interrupts over and over several times a second, (potentially spamming the server?) and making a horrible sound.
II. Spell rotation, usage, survivability
A. Low Health
1. The pet doesn't choose when to lifetap well. If it is in melee , it will tap when injured.
3. it seems to go into "tap mode" when defensive at 50, maybe that should be closer to 80 so it has time to get a tap off before it's dead some times.
4. I think the spell rotation/spells used may need a little adjustment but I think we should try to fix the mana issue before seriously considering looking at this.
III. Itemization
1. Mage summoned gear doesn't really give caster stats. it does enhance the overall survivability of the pet, but it doesn't have a huge problem with survival even naked.
2. BST Collar doesn't really help the caster pet.
3. Its hard to give the caster pet spell proccs that enhance it's performance as you can with various proccing no race trash drops/summon gear.
4. Does the caster pet really benefit from pet strength foci? can it some how? maybe a larger mana pool?
5. If i'm not mistaken, casting silk at a pet overwrites the other non weapon gear on the pet, can we make that not overwrite existing gear? in the event that you slip your caster pet some caster proccing bracers.
6. looking over all the cool none/none (pet items) available and there aren't really any bracers for cool proccs. any chance of getting some added in places that drop such items? such as emberflow, cita, or anywhere else.
7. alternately (more coding intensive) the pet could just have a chance to procc it's melee weapons, when casting x%/100 mana.
8. It feels like the necromancer's itemization doesn't enhance the survivability of the pet much. maybe companion health item should also increase saves and AC some too? just a thought
IV. Suggested fixes!
1. Give the pet a 0 mana small nuke it can use when out of mana. drain soul is a suggestion. 338 damage with cast time of 6.1. keeps it alive, does some dps (i,a,7)
2. Make a thurgadin bounty box that sells proccing bracers, make them emulate the function of the other thurgadin pet weapons. offensive procs, aoe etc. bonus points if the procc drains mana for pet. flowing thought! (III,3)
3. summoned item suggestions: For silks I'd suggest: Add spell crit to hands, add mana to all silks, add spell procc to silk bracers (to match the melee proc on rune sword?), For the BST collar i'd suggest: Add mana, about 15-20 FT (III1,2))
3. The mana regen on the pet is out of wack, it can't possibly stay active for more than 1.5 fights no matter what mana regen you put on it. I'd suggest it needs either a HUGE innate FT, Gain mana on each kill, give it infinite mana effectively (just give it a spell rotation) or (suggestion 4) ((I,A)
4. Remove the meditation mechanic. make it never have to worry with sitting/meditating and just give it as much FT as it currently gains in mana per tick while it meditates. this eliminates all the complications involved and should be easiest to implement. (I, A, 1,2,3,4,6 and partially 7 if it's low less)
5. If meditation is within the vision of the pet. can it be made to not autofollow? we can pull it to us with recall minion any time we need it, let the poor thing meditate without me waking it up while being main looter. (I,A, 1,2,3,4)
6. A better spell rotation is suggested (though i don't have a good suggestion for that and honestly we should tackle mana regen in an isolated way then compare the pet at that point. i've never seen it consistently cast effectively)
7. unrelated to actual balance, but the crusty brown/burned skelly doesn't look super cool. could it be jet black, or blue, or some other cool shiney color?
edit: added I: 6, 7 and reworded 4: 3
edit: struck off II:2 for the Pet AOE improvment. Thanks staff!
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