Originally posted by Gorwe Ready for some hardcore reading? If so, read on...
So you want a good pet class? Well that is a mighty hard feat to pull off(finding it). So, I'll help you by listing every game that I played like ever(except tb shut down ones and ones that are already shut down-no point in that :P). I'll also include MOBAs.
Rift: Rift has got several pet classes, arranged into each archetype. All are good and fun, Save the beastmaster(I'll come to it). Mage has got a Necro(standard undead+debuffs+DoT class) and an Elementalist(you summon elements-there is basically one for every need), Clerics have got Druids(melee specialisation, summons creatures that complement your playstyle-fey and Satyr) and Defilers(I wouldn't call this one a pet class personally, but meh), Rogues have got a Ranger(like a Beastmaster talent tree from wow) and Warriors have got a Beastmaster(this one is gimped as all hell because Trion has removed stances from their pet. Just wtf O.o). All in all, it's not bad, but it's not remarkably good either. It merely passes like so many things in Rift do.
Aion: Now this one has got an awesome pet class. The spiritmaster. It basically summons elements and mostly has DoTs and CCs+pets. What makes it special is that you manually activate their skills by pressing the skill named "Spirit _____". This skill is different for each of elements. Each side in Aion also gets its own pet when they create a spiritmaster-Elyos get the Air+Water elemental, while asmodei(I guess this is the pl-never played them tbh) get the Magma Elemental. As you level and get different spirit skills and different ranks of Spirits themselves, they grow, change and otherwise look awesome. Aion also has got those minipets that sometimes even have some use beyond looking cute, awesome etc. It's definitely worth giving a try if for nothing else, then for the spiritmaster itself.
WoW: Well, how could I forget this...behemoth? Ofc I can not or nobody will take me seriously. But I won't dally here for too long because you are most likely already introduced to wow and its intricacies. I'll just mention demo lock, shammie(well I guess :P) and a bm hunter. Oh and also a...Disease or what is it called? Death Knight.
Guild Wars 1: The kind of game whose heir I am still looking forward. You had 3 classes dabbling with the pets and all were intricate(this is a direct boon of having only 8 skills). I'll start with the Necromancer. They used an attribute called Death Magic to summon the dead and it limited their # of pets available(this was quite broken back in the day). Pets decayed over time and you couldn't keep them alive for more than 2 minutes no matter what you tried(so you needed to maximise both their Life and their death). You could combine the on death spells from death magic(death nova, rising bile, putrid bile, icy veins) with pets for some quite scary effects. The second one was the Ritualist. They summoned various static spirits which did all kinds of things really(depending on the attribute: Channeling-offensive, Communing-defensive and utilitarian and Resto-Healing, buffing etc). Later expansions WILDLY modified this mechanic. The third one was the Ranger. You manually handpicked the attacks on your bar, which when activated would activate on your pet's next attack. Ranger pets also had 3 evolutions: Agressive/Dire-+dmg -hp/armour, Elder-+3 dmg(I think), Playful/Hearty-+hp/Armour -dmg. And you mustn't forget the Henchman+hero system lol! One of the highlights of GW 1, which nobody ever copied(SADLY ;((( ). Heroes were of special interest because you could edit everything about them except their physical Appearance(Armour you could change-I think that there were 3 looks/hero) and their core class(Koss is always going to be a Warrior as is Ogden going to be a monk). This gave quite a longevity to GW 1 and it was this+the community that allowed it to grow ad Astra. Is always a nice game to play if for nothing else, then to experience their Heroes and their stories. This was one of those rare MMOs you could TRULY finish.
Guild Wars 2-if you're keen on the GW franchise, I wholeheartedly recommend GW 1. Pets in GW 2 don't really mean that much. Is all I will say about this game(mods know why :P).
Age of Conan-Necromancer has got summons, but they act as nothing but the graphically pleasing DoTs(sometimes with added effects) and the demo has got pets that act, basically, as a visually pleasing buff. Nothing to really write home about.
Tor: I haven't played it, but it's supposed to look something like GW 1. Perhaps I should try it if for nothing else, then for the stories alone. Hey it's Bioware we are talking about!
LoTRO-it has got the Loremaster pets(they act as barely more than a debuff) and the captain squires(basically an aura). Nothing that much or important.
LoL-Annie has got tibbers, a nuke+summon, Yorick can basically summon a clone of someone as can mordo and That's basically it. The very proof that lol is simpler than other MOBAs lies in the fact that there aren't any Real summons there(lolz).
DoTA-Lycan has got wolves(which are quite weirdly overnerfed) and they are his Base mechanic, even though they are temporal. Lone Druid(I prefer to call him Wildsoul :P) has got his spirit bear-the best pushing combo in the whole game. It can take you quite some time to farm him tho. Nature's Prophet can summon Treants and should buy Necronomicon anyhow. Beastmaster has got a hawk+a quill beast+necro. Chechen has got his creeps(well yeah). Enigma has got those eidolons which are awesome at pushing+necro. Meeepo has got his clones(warning! VERY ULTRA difficult to play!!! If one of those dies, so do you and they can only carry boots!). Black Arachna her Spider lings/ites(she can have a Legion of those! Beware of Raigor tho) and the brewmaster has got the primal split. Then there are the Illusion based heroes(Slithice, Azwraith, Nessaj and a whole bunch of carries with the diff blade+the manta style). Oh and the dark seer ult is nasty as well what with all those illusions. You can find quite some fun in DoTA if you like pets. I wholeheartedly recommend it(now if only Volvo fixed the MatchMaking, but well...yah). This game can REALLY be fun
HoN-it's the lesser version of DoTA(with a better engine tho) so, yeah. Everything that I wrote up, you can more or less find in HoN+some new concepts. This is a pretty fun game as well.
Smite-well it can't have summons what with it being 3rd person and all. Maybe Vulcan's Turret or Nu's soldiers? Meh... Is an awesome bloody game tho(DoTA is still better)!
With all that said, I'd recommend the following(the order matters-it goes from the best to the least but still passable):
GW 1 Aion {Tor} WoW Rift AoC GW 2 LoTRO
MOBAs:
DoTA 2 HoN Smite
Thanks for the post. I know it must have taken a little time to write and come up with. Sorry I kind of vanished for a bit. I was out cold, just woke up. I played / have a few games on that list. Moba's are definitely out. I suck at them and it's not fun for me knowing I could be messing up others experience. I played a few games of DOTA 2 after a bunch of reading and watching people like Purge explain certain aspects while he was playing. Because I was so bad funny stuff always happened. People getting away with one hit left on them. People undecided running back and forth while others in the group are getting murdered because of a bad initiation. Just comical stuff. Most people I have played with don't mind. They tend to find it funny as well. Though I did warn them at the start. lmao.
A few of those titles I have tried or do have. A couple of them I have never played for whatever reason and am going to take a look at. While true GW1 kind of has a pet system in the sense of heroes. Not sure that is what I am looking for exactly. Could be just the way the game is done in general. I don't really want solo play. Kind of want a system, well like Rappelz. 10 people can have the same Kenta or whatever. Yet they could have small variations in the way which they are skilled. It's not like Rappelz has all that deep of a pet system. For whatever reason I liked it. Probably not being fair either as it most likely had to do with the people who I knew and was playing with as much as anything else. Game play on it's own isn't very good.
Nflavor / Gala lab did expand on the system a decent bit and still are from what I have read. I gambled everything I had (was pretty stupid) right before I left and lost it all. So I don't really have an urge to go back to it. Knowing how long it took me to build up to what I did have to that date... Not willing to put a lot of money at risk with nothing to show for it.
- forsaken world. I think they had an area where you could farm for hunting pets you can catch and then use as your own. addicting.
- battle of immortals (or now war of immortals) - they have a valley where you can hunt pets all day long, and meld them to get an even better pet. VERY addicting!
(- rappelz - i grinded a field where you were supposed to find a special pet for hours and hours, but never catched it. i think this is when i uninstalled the game...)
Vanguard's Necro has a great pet. He levels as you level, and changes appearance as he levels,. You can also rip body parts out of the things you kill, and install them into the pet. Once you get high enough, the Necro can also raise dead bodies, so you can end up with a small group just of pets.
Really good pathing and AI too.
didnt Vanguard shut down already? if not then its any day now so i dont think OP will even bother with it.
Vanguard's Necro has a great pet. He levels as you level, and changes appearance as he levels,. You can also rip body parts out of the things you kill, and install them into the pet. Once you get high enough, the Necro can also raise dead bodies, so you can end up with a small group just of pets.
Really good pathing and AI too.
didnt Vanguard shut down already? if not then its any day now so i dont think OP will even bother with it.
I think vanguard shuts down this month.
Originally posted by laokoko "if you want to be a game designer, you should sell your house and fund your game. Since if you won't even fund your own game, no one will".
Comments
Currently playing: Eldevin Online as a Deadly Assassin
Thanks for the post. I know it must have taken a little time to write and come up with. Sorry I kind of vanished for a bit. I was out cold, just woke up. I played / have a few games on that list. Moba's are definitely out. I suck at them and it's not fun for me knowing I could be messing up others experience. I played a few games of DOTA 2 after a bunch of reading and watching people like Purge explain certain aspects while he was playing. Because I was so bad funny stuff always happened. People getting away with one hit left on them. People undecided running back and forth while others in the group are getting murdered because of a bad initiation. Just comical stuff. Most people I have played with don't mind. They tend to find it funny as well. Though I did warn them at the start. lmao.
A few of those titles I have tried or do have. A couple of them I have never played for whatever reason and am going to take a look at. While true GW1 kind of has a pet system in the sense of heroes. Not sure that is what I am looking for exactly. Could be just the way the game is done in general. I don't really want solo play. Kind of want a system, well like Rappelz. 10 people can have the same Kenta or whatever. Yet they could have small variations in the way which they are skilled. It's not like Rappelz has all that deep of a pet system. For whatever reason I liked it. Probably not being fair either as it most likely had to do with the people who I knew and was playing with as much as anything else. Game play on it's own isn't very good.
Nflavor / Gala lab did expand on the system a decent bit and still are from what I have read. I gambled everything I had (was pretty stupid) right before I left and lost it all. So I don't really have an urge to go back to it. Knowing how long it took me to build up to what I did have to that date... Not willing to put a lot of money at risk with nothing to show for it.
So far, I only liked pets in two games:
- forsaken world. I think they had an area where you could farm for hunting pets you can catch and then use as your own. addicting.
- battle of immortals (or now war of immortals) - they have a valley where you can hunt pets all day long, and meld them to get an even better pet. VERY addicting!
(- rappelz - i grinded a field where you were supposed to find a special pet for hours and hours, but never catched it. i think this is when i uninstalled the game...)
didnt Vanguard shut down already? if not then its any day now so i dont think OP will even bother with it.
I think vanguard shuts down this month.
Originally posted by laokoko
"if you want to be a game designer, you should sell your house and fund your game. Since if you won't even fund your own game, no one will".