The buff pets used to be different. They buffed the whole team, and could attack. Both of those components were removed, but appear to have kept their aggro. Some players use it to take an alpha strike.
I believe they try to keep vet rewards limited in power to keep vet player from completely outshining those who are newer. I do have friends who are fairly new players, who will never receive the highest rewards. If those rewards are too cool, it frustrates the new players.
Despite that, yes, I do find the pet disappointing.
The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister.
--The Question, JLU
So a little floating distraction that may you alive a tiny bit longer is a bad thing?
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Are you invisible or stealthed while it is not?|
Originally Posted by Wiggz
...about the non-attacking veteran buff pets that can actually pull aggro away from my BLASTER?
I want to like it, to enjoy this heralded veteran reward and find a modicum of usefulness for it, but so far the only character I've had who has managed to have one survive a single encounter is my FF/Energy defender. What a waste of something that really could have been nice. |
Are you kiting so that it follows you and then after you jump back it's ahead of you?
Do you pull around corners so that it winds up being in front of you?
If you do any of these things the mobs see the vet pet first and attack it first. All you have to do to pull aggro off of it is deal damage.
I don't have any trouble keeping it alive solo now but it did take some practice.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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Was this in closed beta? In the live game the buff pets have only ever buffed the owner even though the descriptive text implied otherwise. Nothing i recall reading suggests the buff pets ever had any attacks outside of anything that might've been tried on the internal testing servers that players have no way to access.|
Originally Posted by Derangedpolygot
The buff pets used to be different. They buffed the whole team, and could attack. Both of those components were removed, but appear to have kept their aggro. Some players use it to take an alpha strike.
I believe they try to keep vet rewards limited in power to keep vet player from completely outshining those who are newer. I do have friends who are fairly new players, who will never receive the highest rewards. If those rewards are too cool, it frustrates the new players. Despite that, yes, I do find the pet disappointing. |
As i recall the buff pets used to have a more standard pet AI which would cause them to rush into melee range of enemies since they had no ranged attacks. Unfortunately for the pets the reason they had no ranged attacks was because they had no attacks at all, and would then just hover around the enemies, presumably thinking little pet AI murder thoughts that they couldn't act upon.
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
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Originally Posted by Derangedpolygot
The buff pets used to be different. They buffed the whole team, and could attack.
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Originally Posted by Schismatrix
Was this in closed beta?
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To my knowledge, the buff pets have never done anything but buff the owner.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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Originally Posted by Schismatrix
Was this in closed beta? In the live game the buff pets have only ever buffed the owner even though the descriptive text implied otherwise. Nothing i recall reading suggests the buff pets ever had any attacks outside of anything that might've been tried on the internal testing servers that players have no way to access.
As i recall the buff pets used to have a more standard pet AI which would cause them to rush into melee range of enemies since they had no ranged attacks. Unfortunately for the pets the reason they had no ranged attacks was because they had no attacks at all, and would then just hover around the enemies, presumably thinking little pet AI murder thoughts that they couldn't act upon. |
The original announcement for this reward was as a team buff. I don't believe this made it to live. If it did, this was changed very quickly.
I do remember the grousing on the forums about the suicidal pets.
The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister.
--The Question, JLU
At one point they had a small attack, last time I checked - the "right-click info" still shows them as having the teeny-tiny attack, but it was disabled (maybe? via a change to the AI) long ago.
They're great at taking alpha strikes for lowbies, depending on where you summon them and particularly if you have a stealth power.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
City of Heroes didn't fail, City of Heroes was killed. If a 747 dropped on your house, you'd say you were killed, not you failed to find a safer dwelling.
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My guess would be the AI somehow sees "Wow, there's something on the player side that's one attack from death. I'm gonna be that guy in the Zig that took a player down!"
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
I guess I got mine after they removed any "attack" feature but my buff pet has never rushed past me to attack anything. I have faced mobs where I'd discover at least one member after the pet. Using my SoA Crab as an example if anyone is stupid enough to attack the pet while I am pouring bullets into his buddies it doesn't bother me a bit. LOL The recharge time on them is very short and after everything is gone I can simply recast and move to the next mob.
They do come in handy at low level adding a bit more defense but by the time you get into the 20 and 30 your hit points and potential defenses have improved to where it's just a nice little bonus.. Certainly not anything that will make the difference between life or death. :-D
�We�re always the good guys. In D&D, we�re lawful good. In City of Heroes we�re the heroes. In Grand Theft Auto we pay the prostitutes promptly and never hit them with a bat.� � Leonard
�Those women are prostitutes? You said they were raising money for stem cell research!� � Sheldon
All of us Iron Eagle players put them out. Nothing better than seeing a foe attack it instead... then miss, and try again.
KnockBack Controller <RIP 
> - (FF/Energy Defender) used to bubble everyone's just so foes miss even more 
The final line of a post by Sweet_Sarah on Liberty
"Together we entered a city of strangers, we made it a city of friends, and we leave it a City of Heroes."
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When i first got mine it still had the "charge any enemies in the area" AI. Although i've never heard of one of the veteran buff pets ever using an attack, they would fly at enemies and then hover around them until the enemy broke them. Which generally wasn't long at all. |
Originally Posted by Wicked_Wendy
I guess I got mine after they removed any "attack" feature but my buff pet has never rushed past me to attack anything.
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They're better alpha absorbers now that i can choose when to have them rush enemies by summoning them there instead watching them charge past me all the time. 
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
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I really don't do any of that. This is me as a blaster standing there killing stuff and watching a bad guy run past me to attack it or standing back and shooting at it rather than at me to kill it.|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Are you invisible or stealthed while it is not?
Are you kiting so that it follows you and then after you jump back it's ahead of you? Do you pull around corners so that it winds up being in front of you? If you do any of these things the mobs see the vet pet first and attack it first. All you have to do to pull aggro off of it is deal damage. I don't have any trouble keeping it alive solo now but it did take some practice. |
Complete pain in the *** to resummon it after every fight, and its not as if the teeny, tiny buff it gives is so significant that it's make or break for vets.
Why not just let it be what it is? I have no problem with AoE damage destroying it if it hits, but AI should NEVER make it a priority over a damage dealing character.
I team a lot more than I solo, and after a year of having it, I find myself hardly ever using it since it just dies too quickly and the buffs are neglible.
@Fail (Used to be @Tux) and @Tuxedo Infinitus Defiant/Freedom/Champion
Favourite Toons: Prosper [Ill/Rad] Controller :: Infinitus [Fire/Elec] Blaster :: Pocket Dynamo [Fire/Shield] Scr :: Fast [Cold/Sonic] Def ::
Inspire [Plant/Storm] Controller :: Quality - SS/Fire Brute :: Double Down [DP/Kin] Corr :: Pwnz [Fire/Cold] Corr :: Fail [Fire/Son] Corr
They never had a working attack. Their description said they buffed teammates, but they never did. They did banzai up into melee range against foes, which was pretty damn annoying if you were playing a ranged character. After a couple of false starts, the devs got them to basically ignore opponents so that they hover near you no matter what else is going on.
I'm not sure what threat multiplier they have, but if it's higher than your character and you haven't damaged a particular foe, that foe will prefer to attack the pet than you. I've always assumed that's what's going on, but have never tried to verify it. High threat modifiers are common on pets.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
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I give up.|
Originally Posted by UberGuy
They never had a working attack. Their description said they buffed teammates, but they never did. They did banzai up into melee range against foes, which was pretty damn annoying if you were playing a ranged character. After a couple of false starts, the devs got them to basically ignore opponents so that they hover near you no matter what else is going on.
I'm not sure what threat multiplier they have, but if it's higher than your character and you haven't damaged a particular foe, that foe will prefer to attack the pet than you. I've always assumed that's what's going on, but have never tried to verify it. High threat modifiers are common on pets. |
I just had it up on my FF/Sonic Defender, the one toon I was SURE it would be beneficial on - a ranged character who could use a touch of endurance to offset my toggles and a bit of defense to add to what I'm getting from Manuevers and Dispersion Bubble. Moreover, I could actually buff it and bring its defense theoretically right near the soft cap.
So I go hunting Tsoo solo for the 2nd costume mission - GREY Tsoo - and it gets killed three times before I manage the 20 I need. Ridiculous.
I have the pet up almost all the time on whatever character I am playing. The only time someone attacks it is when I haven't attacked them. I've pulled aggro off of it with all sorts of AT's. Yes, it will still get defeated eventually, but the power recharges rather quickly and it costs nothing to summon.
Though I do lose it every now and again, I've never had the problem of it getting murdered every spawn, or even every other spawn. Usually two or three times a mission, if that.
We often sit and think of you,
We often speak your name;
There is nothing left to answer,
But your photo in the frame.
-Anon.
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Your forcefielder can bubble the pet. Bubbling should put it at or very near the soft cap (depending on your build). My FF/Dark/Dark does multiple missions with out having to cast it more than the one time at the beginning of each mission.|
Originally Posted by Wiggz
I give up.
I just had it up on my FF/Sonic Defender, the one toon I was SURE it would be beneficial on - a ranged character who could use a touch of endurance to offset my toggles and a bit of defense to add to what I'm getting from Manuevers and Dispersion Bubble. Moreover, I could actually buff it and bring its defense theoretically right near the soft cap. So I go hunting Tsoo solo for the 2nd costume mission - GREY Tsoo - and it gets killed three times before I manage the 20 I need. Ridiculous. |
I am going to guess that the RNG just hates you at the moment.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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That's kind of what I said in the quoted post.|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Your forcefielder can bubble the pet. Bubbling should put it at or very near the soft cap (depending on your build). My FF/Dark/Dark does multiple missions with out having to cast it more than the one time at the beginning of each mission.
I am going to guess that the RNG just hates you at the moment. |
"Moreover, I could actually buff it and bring its defense theoretically right near the soft cap."
In fact, that's exactly what I said. I just don't see how greys could hit a soft-capped anything unless the thing itself has some kind of inherent -def. Its just been incredibly frustrating.
IIRC, the buff pets come with 45% AoE defense, and -1000% resistance to all (and, like... 1 hit point).
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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I think they actually have 2 hit points since I've had them have a half bar of health several times.
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Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
IIRC, the buff pets come with 45% AoE defense, and -1000% resistance to all (and, like... 1 hit point).
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-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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This is my experience. On some of my characters (mainly my Cold/Ice Defender who can buff it and my DM/Elec Brute who gets a few seconds in every spawn with a damage aura before it catches up) my buff pet usually lives for entire missions.
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Originally Posted by Ossuary
Though I do lose it every now and again, I've never had the problem of it getting murdered every spawn, or even every other spawn. Usually two or three times a mission, if that.
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Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
...about the non-attacking veteran buff pets that can actually pull aggro away from my BLASTER?
I want to like it, to enjoy this heralded veteran reward and find a modicum of usefulness for it, but so far the only character I've had who has managed to have one survive a single encounter is my FF/Energy defender.
What a waste of something that really could have been nice.