Landro
September 14th, 2009, 07:18 AM
I am not sure if anyone else is using the "pets" from gadgeteering, but here's a few notes.
First many people are not using the heal bots because they, though they were wrong, felt they were broken. Let me just kill that now. The heal bots at rank two and level 17 were healing me for 48+ every second, non-stop....
As of right now I have the Heal Bots and the Munitions Bots to Rank 2. These two together are absolutely amazing. They make up for the lack of DPS the gadgeteer, full gadget spec that is, does with it's baisc weapons and attacks, aside from the massive AoE I have.
For an example, yesterday in a PvP match, I stood in the center of teh map and with the Heal Bots and my HoT, I withstood attacks for over 3 minutes straight, never going less then 50%. This I felt seemed overpowered at first, but after looking at the cons of the pets realized there was an amazing balance Cryptic put into effect.
The pets require attention, especially the Munitions Bots. They can be killed VERY fast by certain classes/mobs and there is not warning they are dying, being attacked, or dead. So you have to watch them all the time. Next, the heal bots can chase other players to help them, sometimes rather large distances, require a longer time for them to return to heal you. This can make things VERY whiteknuckle.
Then there's the aggro. As in every game the pets can get aggro if you are not careful, and I mean VERY careful. But, where cryptic, and I like this, made it more of a challenge, is there is no "stealth" skill for the pets. This requires your to look at your fights and strategize the position and knowing how fast you can kill, before fighting. I think this is an amazing idea on Cryptics part. It requires you to use your brain, every fight. No just running in and swinging and shooting. A really, really important thing to remember is the Munitions Bots, when you change them to the Turrets, are AoE. So, don't just toss them into a fight where there are more groups of mobs close behind....that ends badly.
I still see people in /zone chat whinning about the pets, I hope Cryptic isn't listening to these people.
You see, not only is there the tricks and challenges above, but there is the control issue. This is one area I think they could improve, that being a pet control bar for each set of pets, but I can live without that for now.
Many people run around with the pets on assist, this is great for WoW, WAR, whatever, but the pets behave differently in CO, especially with the Gadgeteer. Your best bet is to keep them on passive, and when you know where you are fighting at, that good thought out strategic point, and how you are going to fight, get in there and put the pets on attack mode. They will only attack your target, or the target you command them to attack. This also keeps the Heal bots focused more on yourself during the fight. This is something very helpful to remember. On assist the pets assist all heroes withing a certain range....this can be bad for you...
In the end, the gadgeteer side of CO is DONE very well. One of the best pet classes I have seen to date in a MMO. There are some issues with the pets following you properly at times, but they do start to catch up rather quick, this will be patched I am sure. I amnot sure if this comes in a later rank, but a direct control thing would be cool, like a "remote control" skill. But these are more cosmetic. For anyone wantig to try these skills out, I thought this would be a little helpful in yor decision. The bots/pets are great, amazing, but due require a lot more thinking then most other classes. You can't just stand in one area and fight, you need to really think about EVERY battle, solo or grouped.
First many people are not using the heal bots because they, though they were wrong, felt they were broken. Let me just kill that now. The heal bots at rank two and level 17 were healing me for 48+ every second, non-stop....
As of right now I have the Heal Bots and the Munitions Bots to Rank 2. These two together are absolutely amazing. They make up for the lack of DPS the gadgeteer, full gadget spec that is, does with it's baisc weapons and attacks, aside from the massive AoE I have.
For an example, yesterday in a PvP match, I stood in the center of teh map and with the Heal Bots and my HoT, I withstood attacks for over 3 minutes straight, never going less then 50%. This I felt seemed overpowered at first, but after looking at the cons of the pets realized there was an amazing balance Cryptic put into effect.
The pets require attention, especially the Munitions Bots. They can be killed VERY fast by certain classes/mobs and there is not warning they are dying, being attacked, or dead. So you have to watch them all the time. Next, the heal bots can chase other players to help them, sometimes rather large distances, require a longer time for them to return to heal you. This can make things VERY whiteknuckle.
Then there's the aggro. As in every game the pets can get aggro if you are not careful, and I mean VERY careful. But, where cryptic, and I like this, made it more of a challenge, is there is no "stealth" skill for the pets. This requires your to look at your fights and strategize the position and knowing how fast you can kill, before fighting. I think this is an amazing idea on Cryptics part. It requires you to use your brain, every fight. No just running in and swinging and shooting. A really, really important thing to remember is the Munitions Bots, when you change them to the Turrets, are AoE. So, don't just toss them into a fight where there are more groups of mobs close behind....that ends badly.
I still see people in /zone chat whinning about the pets, I hope Cryptic isn't listening to these people.
You see, not only is there the tricks and challenges above, but there is the control issue. This is one area I think they could improve, that being a pet control bar for each set of pets, but I can live without that for now.
Many people run around with the pets on assist, this is great for WoW, WAR, whatever, but the pets behave differently in CO, especially with the Gadgeteer. Your best bet is to keep them on passive, and when you know where you are fighting at, that good thought out strategic point, and how you are going to fight, get in there and put the pets on attack mode. They will only attack your target, or the target you command them to attack. This also keeps the Heal bots focused more on yourself during the fight. This is something very helpful to remember. On assist the pets assist all heroes withing a certain range....this can be bad for you...
In the end, the gadgeteer side of CO is DONE very well. One of the best pet classes I have seen to date in a MMO. There are some issues with the pets following you properly at times, but they do start to catch up rather quick, this will be patched I am sure. I amnot sure if this comes in a later rank, but a direct control thing would be cool, like a "remote control" skill. But these are more cosmetic. For anyone wantig to try these skills out, I thought this would be a little helpful in yor decision. The bots/pets are great, amazing, but due require a lot more thinking then most other classes. You can't just stand in one area and fight, you need to really think about EVERY battle, solo or grouped.