Taming thoughts for Developers.

Although this is not Ultima Online, I played it for 16 years as a dedicated tamer/bard and being along those lines I came to this game in hopes of picking up where UO left off. I understand this is not a completed game ready for the public yet but in the time I've been playing here are a few things the DEV's might want to look at.
#1 If you can tame a pet, you should (a) have the skill to tame it and (b) have the summoning to tame and summon it. It makes no sense you can tame something but then cannot summon it. I would think a little check sum code could fix that..
#2 Being able to sell a tamed pet on a whistle although that concept is cool and all, the purchaser should not be able to (a) summon it and (b) use it without the corresponding skills required for that level of pet.
#3 The amount of focus to control the pets is too much. the reasons for that are, the pet doesn't deal enough damage to the mobs at it's corresponding levels to sustain it. I mean on that context that you still have to attack with the pet / cast with the pet to make the kills. if i have 400 focus and summon my wolf that takes 220 of that away, it leaves very little to be able to cast/or use styles on the mobs. or Being able to Heal the pet and myself.
#4 The tamed pets move SO SLOW, out of combat they barely keep up with me and i'm not sprinting. i look behind me and the pets are falling further and further behind. In Combat if I'm walking backwards attacking a mob with my bow my pet attacks and falls off, it cannot even keep up to the mobs when moving backwards so you are forced to hold position to allow the pet to make attacks. THIS NEEDS TWEAKED.
#5 I never did common core math, so I dunno the formulas being used here but Collar Recovery.. 100% chance to not use a collar, should mean never fail, I'm at level 70 and 157% should far surpass never using a collar..

But Seriously developers if you could at the very least fix the speed of the pets it would make taming a little more desirable for us people who love to tame.

 

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/taming-time-to-get-it-finished.74476/

 

Oh i know Weins, but if people don't continue to post about things, these dev's will just continue to overlook it. I want to continue being a tamer and I hope to see some changes in the near future. right now i'd just like to see my pet able to actual keep up to the mob in a fight and not fall so far behind me that i half kill a mob before it finally shows up to the fight.. oh i know, use the teleport option.. nice idea, however you have to exit combat to use it. Irks me to no end that a full health pet cant keep up to me while walking backwards in a fight. you would think with 10+ million dollars already into the game it would be further along than this.

 

they can't. if you hover over a whistle with a pet in it, it'll tell you what summoning skill is needed to call it.

 

just like you I agree but instead of posting all my stuff I just dropped link

 

Hello fellow Tamer/Bard from UO (like me!)

This one works like you described-
#2 Being able to sell a tamed pet on a whistle although that concept is cool and all, the purchaser should not be able to (a) summon it and (b) use it without the corresponding skills required for that level of pet.

It is working great. Higher creatures need a higher collar recovery. at 97 I never loose a collar on a failed tame on a Obsidian Bear
#5 I never did common core math, so I dunno the formulas being used here but Collar Recovery.. 100% chance to not use a collar, should mean never fail, I'm at level 70 and 157% should far surpass never using a collar..

I hope this helps!

 

you are wrong on the whistles. when i had 40 taming and 79 summoning i could summon and use a ferocious red spider.. if you look to see what it takes to tame one , it is not even close. this should not be the case.. you should have the taming skills and summoning skills to use a tamed creature. as it is, all you need is summoning it seems.

and i'm not sure what school ya all went to but 100% chance is absolute. so why have anything higher than that.. something funky in that kinda thinking.

 

shake that tree

 

In UO, you had taming for a primary skill to get pets, you also had its compliment Animal lore which was required to control a pet. that being said if you were a tamer wanting a greater dragon, you had to have 105 taming and 110 lore for it to transfer to you and start the bonding process. you couldn't be a 40 taming and 110 lore to take ownership or control it or start a bonding process. I guess that is what i'm saying.. when i was 40 taming and 79 summoning here i was handed a pet that had a 5% chance of taming it to a 120 tamer. I was able to summon and use it although it took damn near all the focus i had. taming wasnt a easy thing in UO to legendary skill, it was slow and tedious but the rewards were worth it. the pets actually were great in combat. were they over powered in pvp? not really at all. any fair pvp player could out maneuver them, root them, stun them, para them.

What i see here so far is the pets are underpowered once tamed, too slow to do real combat unless you stand still and swing away, take far too much focus. Am I trying to make this the same as UO? not really, i'm using it as a example. risk/work vs reward in the taming tree is just not right.

 

I am sooooo glad SOTA taming is NOT UO taming. UO taming was too easy with two skills needed. Third if you wanted to heal and res.

I respect your opinion and how you want UO like taming.

In SOTA I am able to play effectively with my pet. Sure it takes 222 focus points but I have the skills to increase my focus, armour and a bow that increases my focus.

It takes time to adjust to the new taming approach. There will be enhancements and love by the devs to improve taming here.

 

Watching a tamed dog or wolf sprint in slow motion is painful to watch and those speeds are very impractical in combat. Its practically guaranteed death for both pet and tamer if swarmed.

Ironically, the crocodile though slower than you waddles pretty fast and is apparently moving at it's top speed. And surprisingly tamed horses can keep while you"re running so I'm uncertain why the other animals are so slow.

Just using my "combat pets" as just pets. When my regular heals and resurrection spells can help my pet survive then I'll reconsider. Having the same spells in the Taming tree just makes no sense to me.

 

I love taming, but I also understand that this game is unlike other games in that you have no limits to how many skills you can have. So let's say we are two years into the game and a person has GMed all sorts of skills and also brings his/her uber pet with all the taming skills also GMed...this makes taming too powerful and it would make taming a mandatory skill set.

Taming needs a little love for sure, but we have to be realistic about what we can ask for. Right now if you love taming you can invest heavily in it and it's not too bad. the one problem is loss of too much focus. I sit at GM in all combat taming skills 115 in summoning and 105 in a few of the other taming skills and sadly...I perform better without my pet due to the loss of focus, I still hunt with my pet because he is my little digital buddy and there are still pros to having him out, he keeps fighting when I run out of focus and hmm um...he's cool? At the very least I should do just as well with my pet out as I do without him. I shouldn't perform better without him!

Right now the only pet that keeps gaining hp and focus above a certain level is the Ferocious Red Spider, this is one issue I would like to see fixed! If they lower the focus costs (or better allow the option to lower focus costs via the taming skills we already have in game) and add higher level tamable animals (high level bear would be nice) then taming wouldn't be in a bad place.

In other games if you want a powerful pet, you have to sacrifice something else, I understand that and I am ok with it, the nerf went too far however and needs to be adjusted a little.

 

wait, are you saying the ferocious red spider gains focus and health? like it's trainable? what is your pet at HP/focus right now? I was highly disapointed to see a 1400 HP spider drop to 377 after tame. the amount of focus it uses is stupid for such a nerfed pet.

 

It's hp is 486 and it's focus is a bit under 570ish. Sifl's adventure level is 110 or so, pretty weak for his adventure level.

 

i hate how slow they are, all of them really. constantly looking back to see where and how far behind me it is. most of the time i've killed or almost killed whatever i'm on before the pet engages and unless i'm standing still it can't keep up with the mob during a fight..

 

Very interesting. Does the pet automatically strengthen as you level or do you have to bring it with you in combat regularly for the HP and Focus to increase?

 

The pets level is a combination of the summoning skill and the combat skill both in the taming tree.

 

Maybe the devs can create a taming skill that buffs the pet but debuffs the player a bit, adds + 70% to the pets combat and defense stats but takes a 30% away from the player, this would keep the super hardcore folks from using the pet but let people that really want to focus on having a powerful pet use the buff and have the option to have a strong pet.

Many of us want to focus on being a pet class, something like this would allow for the option without making the pet OP or mandatory.

I don't mind giving something up to have a usable pet, but as I have said in other posts, at over 700 points invested in the taming tree, I shouldn't perform better without my pet than I do with him!

 

To the OP: if taming and summoning were squashed into one skill as you are proposing, the entire pet economy would go away. No one is going to pay 20k for a ferocious red if they can tame it for free in 5 minutes.

Additionally, it would be more difficult for players to pick up taming. You can level summoning skill on your own or as you adventure. Taming leveling requires a lot of silver, dedicated activity, and typically a friend to help tank/heal. The barrier to entry would be way larger.

 

unfortunate but i doubt the Dev's even will read this post.