OOW /Pet focus ability

[Starpaw Southerncross]

I never said pet hold did clear agro, i was saying if you look careful where the brackets are after that /pet back off helps wipe agro list, just has to be prefixed with pet hold so it is held to start with, i was pointing out that you never said pet hold as any part of your post so i thought you must not have or didnt use, which i find verry useful. Specially in the hotkey set out as i said above, not sure if you missed that part? even though you quoted me on it.

Secondly i didnt think i was getting defensive, but replying to your point you had in caps, with replying in caps, so you knew what i was saying since that is how you typed =) what was i ment to think....

Thirdly if you followed my posts i did have some input as to how it could be useful, even thoguh noting how it wasn't useful to me, and was upset how it wasnt usful for all typed of Beastlords, since all beastlords it was ment to be useful for.

[Fistinyereyes]

AA's shouldn't be 100% useful to everyone. That's what makes them what they are, you have to chose what will most benefit you and decide your AAs accordingly.

Now mind you, this is just an example--

Under your logic, I should make a post saying that I am upset with Sinister strikes because I use 2hb.. it's an AA for beastlords, there for it should be useful for everyone! .. However, as we all know, not everyone uses Duel weapons, and those people would then know that they shouldn't bother with the AA.


In your original post you said something about how it should be an AA that makes pet attack whatever you are... well, that would be something entirely different from what the discription of the AA says. An AA not suited to your play style is no more "wrong"  than anything else in the game that has limited uses. You know how you play, by the description of the AA you should have been able to figure out what it did, and the extent of the usefulness for it. Even if that were not the case, people purchase AA's all the time with false expectations.. but they have to deal with it all the same.

Also, in referance to you mentioning how I had all caps in my reply.. that was 1 very small and specific word to emphasize a point. If I had made full sentances or my whole response as such, I would expect a defensive reply from you.. but it was one single word.. no worse than it being in bold type or underlined...

[Starpaw Southerncross]

I made a post asking if there was any use of it other then pvp i did not say it is totally useless to others, i just said i found it totally useless is all.

I didn't expect people to turn this around onto me, even though i used myself as a example.

If you made a post that you found sinister strike useless cause you never use 1 handed weapons and the AA just came out, and you were not in full understanding what sinister strike AA actually was, i would not be posting back to you saying
Personally, I think you are looking at the ability only for how it isn't useful to YOU.
I would see your opinion and prob agree with you, and note that your were right or give options of how you could use it if possible, and not state the obvious, ofcourse i am wondering how this AA could help me, its still a new AA, and i was wondering if others were using it in any other case, how is that bad to ask that question?

I still have not gotten a AA i don't find useful, since i have found a use for this AA now, thanks to Tastian noting how it can break mezz (I use it when farming with a enchanter and a healer on lower lvl mobs so i can be killing 2 mobs at a time) =) so i am happy.
I am sorry if you have AA's you have no use for them =( but i made this post to learn what i did, and find a use for it, as i did.

So thank you all.

[Sorien]

There are many instances where I can find this AA very usefull.  Maybe the higher lvl BST'S don't have these problems, but my 58 lvl butt surely would love to have this.  Below is the scenario that I have to deal with without the AA Pet Focus (Situation assumes that you are soloing):

1) You pull two + to camp
2) Send pet in on the MOB you pulled with Slow before MOB'S get to camp.
3) Pet takes aggro on all MOB'S
4a) If more than 2.  You switch targets & sick pet on second MOB (to keep aggro on pet) then slow the second MOB.  Rinse Repeat until last MOB, proceed to step 4b. (If more than 3 & no KEI for pet heals, I'm usually runnin)
4b) If only 2.  You switch targets & slow last MOB so he will come to you & attack.
5) Issue pet commands /pet back off & /pet attack to attack the MOB you just slowed and are attacking.
6) The first MOB(S) you pulled is now beating on the backside of fluffy.
7) Spam /pet back off & /pet attack every 1 second to keep him on your target MOB.
8) Back up so both on pet/or if MOB doesn't stun that much, stay in aggro range of target MOB & heal when necessary.

With the Pet Focus AA, I wouldn't have to keep on spammin /pet back off & /pet attack.  For one, it is quite embarrasing when others are around because it gives the illusion that I am not in control of pet.  For two, tellin the pet to /pet back off & /pet attack every second like you have to causes a big loss of pet DPS.  <---(Not parsed, assuming here)

There are other reasons that I wouldn't mind having the ability for, but above is the main reason.

Sarinth

[Dummkopf]

I found it very usefull in high end raiding, there are enough encounters where you stand in the AE of a main mob but have to fight adds, your pet normally would go after the main mob very fast and thats sometimes just the wrong thing to do so /pet focus certainly helps there. The only thing about it that i didnt like was that i had to do it after every zoning, dunno if they fixed that.

[Starpaw Southerncross]

/agree with you mate 100% good post i have just found that out lately, since my guild was on break over chrissy. Would like to say it doesnt break mezz like i thought it did too.

[danaconda]

Forgive me for not fully understanding this.....  :oops:

If your pet is on /hold wouldn't the pet not attack any adds unless you told it to? And if more than one mob was on it's hate list then you would run into problems, but wouldn't /pet back off take care of clearing the list? So if you told your pet to attack one mob, wouldn't the other mob not even be on it's hate list to begin with because of /pet hold?

Maybe I don't fully understand how /pet hold works. I assume that once you type /pet hold it stays on indeffinitely or until you either zone or /pet hold again to toggle. Is that correct? If you have to type /pet hold for every mob, then that could get quite annoying!

(and yes, I understand we are talking about /focus right now, not /pet hold....)

[Vidyne]

For the instance above..  he is having his pet offtank the add, while his pet still does dps to the main mob that he is tanking, in this situation, the pet has aggro on the mob behind, yes pet hold will stop him from attacking both, yes pet back off will clear his aggro list, but the mob still HATES your pet, and will hit it next round, calling the pet to attack it(pet geting hit generates more aggro than you getting hit).

As far as pet focus goes, the only time its useful is when something is hitting the pet, lets say a shreiker fromt he deep... and you also have...   an enthralled razorfiend in camp as well.   If you want the pet to take dmg from the shreiker but help you kill the razorfiend, pet focus is useful.  This way pet is splitting the dmg with you.

The only issue that ever will come up to my knowledge with pet focus is the pet getting hit.. the pet tanking.
When a pet is tanking, that mob.. or mobs go to the top of its hate list quickly.

When that list is cleared.. the next time the mob hits the pet(the next round), hes put right back up at the top of the list...

Pet hold yes will hold him still til doomsday, but pet back off not really gonna help when the mob keeps putting itself on the aggro list every round.

If your tanking both of them then this is mute...  but its just when pet is tanking something and you want it to attack the one its not tanking that this is a issue.

[danaconda]

But if the pet is in /pet hold then won't it ignore the other mob hitting it?

Pretty much what I'm getting at is.... if you have /pet hold wouldn't it be kind of redundant to get /focus? Obviously you will have to /focus your warder on one mob. So wouldn't just hitting a hotkey designated as /pet back off, /pet hold (or vice versa, I don't have it yet so I don't know) be just as effective? Unless I'm not getting it...... does /pet hold wear off if the warder gets hit?

An example: you pull 2 mobs. Your pet is already in /pet hold state. You send pet at the 2nd mob while you tank the 1st. Since pet is in /hold state, the 1st mob can fall below 20% and pet shouldn't attack it, correct? So what purpose would /focus have?

I must be missing something. /pet hold should make your pet not attack anything unless you type /pet attack, correct? If so, then just send pet on one mob and it shouldn't attack any other mobs, correct? I'm not being sarcastic or anything here, I really feel like I'm missing something. Please correct me where I'm wrong.

In the above example..... you want the pet to attack the 1st mob, but take a beating from the 2nd? Well, wouldn't /pet hold cover that as well? Attack 2nd mob with pet, then back off, hold, and then have it attack 1st mob..... that works doesn't it?

[Nusa]

/pet attack(without focus) = Attack whatever is most hated at the moment (hate being adjusted by range and low health of mob)
/pet attack(with focus) = Attack a specific target, regardless of who it hates most.
/pet hold = Stop attacking and do not attack. Hate still builds for whatever reason, it's just not acted on.

They're mutually exclusive. Telling the pet to attack cancels /pet hold. Using /pet hold stops any attack. The pet cannot be held and attack at the same time. Get it now?

/pet back off = clear current hate list (Does not cancel pet hold. Does stop the current attack because nothing is hated. However, the mob(s) still attacking you or your pet will be back on the hate list so fast you often can't tell the attack stopped.)

[Stingite]

Would have really liked having this AA the other night when fighting the Rathe Council . . . no I didn't throw the event, but I gave a few people a good scare.  :-o

[Bengali]

But if the pet is in /pet hold then won't it ignore the other mob hitting it?

Pretty much what I'm getting at is.... if you have /pet hold wouldn't it be kind of redundant to get /focus? Obviously you will have to /focus your warder on one mob. So wouldn't just hitting a hotkey designated as /pet back off, /pet hold (or vice versa, I don't have it yet so I don't know) be just as effective? Unless I'm not getting it...... does /pet hold wear off if the warder gets hit?

An example: you pull 2 mobs. Your pet is already in /pet hold state. You send pet at the 2nd mob while you tank the 1st. Since pet is in /hold state ....

[snip]

That's what the confusion is, I think.  /pet hold isn't a "state", it's just a command, so when you issue a conflicting command (like /pet attack) the warder forgets that you ever told it to hold, and goes back to normal behavior.  In your example, it's not the warder getting hit that cancels /pet hold, it's your telling it to *attack* the second mob that completely erases the earlier hold command from your pet's memory.   :)

By contrast, /pet focus is a toggle, or a "state" to use your term.  /pet focus actually changes your warder's behavior until you turn it off, and does so by changing the way your warder responds to the /pet attack command.

When pet is not focusing, /pet attack simply tells your warder to do two things:  1) add your target to its hatelist and 2) start attacking NPCs (if it isn't already).  The warder then follows normal NPC rules about what to attack, and will change targets based on what angers it most (damage/debuffs done to it) or to take advantage of a badly wounded foe (low health aggro).

When the focus toggle is on, /pet attack does something different.  Instead of the above, /pet attack will  instead tell your warder to:  1) add your target to THE TOP of its hatelist and KEEP IT THERE and 2) start attacking NPCs (if it isn't already).   Because now /pet attack actually forces your target to the top of the warder's list, it will no longer change targets unless its current target dies or until you force another target to the top of its hatelist by issuing another /pet attack command.

EDIT:  I should also clarify that once focus is activated, the warder doesn't just respond to /pet attack that way, it responds that way with all mobs on its hatelist.  Meaning that if for example a mob tashes your warder it will take off after the mob that tashed it, and will keep after that mob even if another mob comes along and starts nuking or beating the crap out of it.

[danaconda]

AHHHHH, thanks so much for that info guys (or gals, you never know)! Now I understand what the point would be for getting that AA. I always thought of /pet hold along similar lines as /pet taunt (you know, a toggle).

[Essant]

No .. this AA is awesome .. one of the best ones I've purchased so far..

Major benefit is soloing .. say you got 2 or 3 mobs beating on you, benefit is you can concentrate all your dps on 1 mob at a time to get the damage being done to YOU down as quickly as possible ..this alone can make or break a solo encounter.

And of course the ability to be able to force pet off tank if necessary is also invaluable ..

Pet no cast I havent gotten yet ... I dont forsee its usefulness too much .. maybe im wrong .. but /pet focus is a definite winner.