Pet control

Question from a noob MM, currently levelling a Bots/FF MM and having some issues with getting them to do what I want.

I've been trying to get the Bots to stay near me and shoot the target that I select - this keeps them under the Dispersion bubble and other buffs and allows me to heal them.

I select "Go to" - spot near me.
Then "Stay".
After this I select "My target".

The bots randomly run to the target and attack in melee. I assumed that the stance and positional were exclusive of each other so that you could position them and then get them to attack what and how you want but this appears not to be the case.
Any idea how to achieve this?

The way MM pet commands work is you set for the pets two states: a command, and an agression level. Go to, stay, and attack are all commands, and as such each will overwrite the previous. Thus, when you issue the 'attack' command, the bots forget the 'stay' command and run off to attack your target as their AI sees fit.

What I might try is issuing a 'goto' followed by a 'stay agressive'. I haven't tried that personally, but that might get the bots to stand on one spot while shooting. Of course, you wouldn't be able to get them to attack a specific target like that, but whatever.

Also, there apparently is currently a but in the AI of some pets that makes them run into melee even when their AI type is supposed to prefer ranged combat. That might be part of what you are seeing, and if so, it should get better when the devs fix that bug. Unfortunately they're all working their rears off on Going Rogue at the moment, so that might be a while.

At lower levels, before the big upgrade at level 32, the robots have fewer attacks. When they run out of ranged attacks, they get the bright idea 'it's clobberin' time!' What I often do on lower level Robots/* mastermins is to issue the 'Attack my target' after the first salvos are fired to dogpile the closest target through the furthest. I don't do this when there are particularly nasty bosses like Damned or Consiglieres about, but it's effective on regular spawns even tough it isn't particularly 'tankerminding'.

I've never liked stay. When I want my pets to stay near me I leave them in bg mode and charge in to the nearest foe. There is generally a delay before the pets attack so when they do they are formed up nicely behind me.

If you don't know about bodyguard mode click here.

There is currently a bug in pet AI where pets ingore the GOTO and STAY commands while in combat. The devs are working on fixing it, but it has been slow going.

Pet's engaging in melee once their ranged weapons are in cool down mode was a "feature" added in I17.

I personally think it blows.

On a orange level minion my assault bot goes a whopping 90 points of damage with brawl.

Why on earth would I ever want him to brawl an opponent when he could wait a second and do several hundred points of damage with napalm burn patches?

I think melee pets should do melee attacks and ranged pets should stay at range.

When my bots start to charge the enemy, I hit "follow". About two seconds later I hit "attack", and they make ranged attacks. It takes more time from me, but it produces amazing results.

Thanks for the feedback guys. It's good to know it's not just me being an idiot but disappointing that there isn't an easy solution.
I'll have to work around it.

Thanks again.