If the devs want us to stay near the mech from now on, add a tag on the mech so we can see them

[WipZedKay.5316]

With the proposed and upcoming change of having to be near the mech to get the benefit of Mechanical Genius, then at least make it easier for us to see where OUR mech is at the very least. Adding a tag above your own mech would make it a lot easier to see where your mech in particular is during more ''colourful'' encounters. Would also help support players quite a bit with seeing their own mech and making sure that it's close enough to provide boons.

 

And before anyone says it: yes, you could place a personal marker on your own mech but this marker is also removed if you recall it and is more of a bandaid solution to this problem. Having a marker above your mech independent of any markers would be more of a permanent solution and would allow you to use the personal marker for other things too.

[Stalima.5490]

My question would be, are ranger pets getting the same treatment? Because currently ranger pets are far more powerful than the mechanists pet, not only being way tougher to kill but are also able to do alot more damage.

[PolarBear.3961]

I truly hope this stupid "hug your mech" change wont happen... 

[WipZedKay.5316]

2 hours ago, Stalima.5490 said:

My question would be, are ranger pets getting the same treatment? Because currently ranger pets are far more powerful than the mechanists pet, not only being way tougher to kill but are also able to do alot more damage.

They use more or less the same code from what I remember hearing or reading a while back. So it shouldn't be too hard to add it to both I reckon.

[Infusion.7149]

3 hours ago, PolarBear.3961 said:

I truly hope this stupid "hug your mech" change wont happen... 

Removing autocasts on mech is a far better solution IMO. It would lower effective DPS for ranged mechs that are just borderline afking. If the goal is to hit rifle mech specifically with a ranged mech, this isn't an ideal nerf method.

---
@Stalima this is false.
Even with Untamed pets and the untamed unleashed pet skills the mech does more damage when you account for autocasts. Plus the DPS pet used in benchmarks is typically the lynx which is melee and there is no boon copy to the pet unless you run Nature Magic. In EoD beta I was testing pets with no boons on them and they did something akin to 1-2K damage on par with necro minions.
 

4 hours ago, Stalima.5490 said:

My question would be, are ranger pets getting the same treatment? Because currently ranger pets are far more powerful than the mechanists pet, not only being way tougher to kill but are also able to do alot more damage.

Edited November 14, 2022 by Infusion.7149

[Stalima.5490]

47 minutes ago, Infusion.7149 said:

@Stalima this is false.
Even with Untamed pets and the untamed unleashed pet skills the mech does more damage when you account for autocasts. Plus the DPS pet used in benchmarks is typically the lynx which is melee and there is no boon copy to the pet unless you run Nature Magic. In EoD beta I was testing pets with no boons on them and they did something akin to 1-2K damage on par with necro minions.
 

im talking pvp here, the drake for example can pop enemies for over 10k etc, the mech does so little damage now in comparison that it isn't even a competition anymore

[Kodama.6453]

3 hours ago, Stalima.5490 said:

im talking pvp here, the drake for example can pop enemies for over 10k etc, the mech does so little damage now in comparison that it isn't even a competition anymore

Seems they just really want to bury mechanist in PvP. Was already pretty bad in that game mode, but being forced to hold the hand of your mech at least every 6 seconds might be the last nail in it's coffin.

Edited November 14, 2022 by Kodama.6453

[TexZero.7910]

They will also need to work on mech's (any pets) pathing to be fair.

There's countless instances of them being too stupid to walk in a straight line and that's before we talk about encounters with actual movement where you're borderline forced to pop shift signet to get them to come back only for them to yolo again.

[WipZedKay.5316]

On 11/15/2022 at 12:00 AM, TexZero.7910 said:

They will also need to work on mech's (any pets) pathing to be fair.

There's countless instances of them being too stupid to walk in a straight line and that's before we talk about encounters with actual movement where you're borderline forced to pop shift signet to get them to come back only for them to yolo again.

I hope that we would get a flag to place down where our pets would stay. Mech or Ranger pets could both really use a more precise positioning tool rather than the ''go somewhere you could hit the target'' or ''stay near me'' we have now.

[Kuma.1503]

I'd be okay with this change, if the Mech AI was good enough to justify it. 

Anet needs to go back and revisit pet AI. Consider giving us the option to ground target where we want the mech to stand. Without this change, playing mech is going to be a massive pain for several reasons. 

1. The mech likes to stand at its maximum range. Against large hitboxes it can stand very far behind the group.
2. Building on point 1, Ranged mechs don't stack with the squad well. 
3. Return to me is very unresponsive. Sometimes it does not work even if you spam it. 
4. Recall and Crash down take too long to rely on for repositioning
5. The mech loves to husain bolt back into the same mispositioned spot immediately after you use crash down. 

I'm all for adding a skill check to the mechanist. I think they're on the right track with this change. My only problem is how the player is skill checked. 

The skill should come from proper micro-management. Not from working around a spastic, unresponsive AI that rarely does what you want it to, and occasionally decides to ignore your commands because... reasons. 

[coro.3176]

IMO the best solution is just to make the pet-return command an instant teleport back to the player. That solves frustrating pathing issues while not making the mech too fast for opponents to deal with.

[Beggar.2079]

Wait, so now mechs players will actually have to think about something ? 
kitten 😮

[Yellow Rainbow.6142]

5 hours ago, Beggar.2079 said:

Wait, so now mechs players will actually have to think about something ? 
kitten 😮

I find it weird that you actually have to think about playing this game at all.. What is so challenging to you?

[Mell.4873]

On 11/15/2022 at 8:18 AM, Stalima.5490 said:

im talking pvp here, the drake for example can pop enemies for over 10k etc, the mech does so little damage now in comparison that it isn't even a competition anymore

That is being nerfed again for the 3rd time in a row so not much a justification.

[Pengu.7481]

On 11/21/2022 at 5:18 AM, Mell.4873 said:

That is being nerfed again for the 3rd time in a row so not much a justification.

well if it still hits for 10k then thats all the justification we need. 

 

[Doggie.3184]

4 minutes ago, Doggie.3184 said:

The change is going to require some better pet control such as a "Short-Leash" toggle to keep it next to me. I don't feel like following a braindead AI everywhere, it should follow ME.

Short Leash command or don't add this change at all. Polish your game to support the changes that will break it. Spamming return isn't fun and it just runs off on its own afterwards anyways. We can't dye them to tell them apart despite you wanting us to stand near them for buffs and this new distance nerf, no alternate skins to help find it, no tag, no AI commands, no QoL whatsoever and you'll be reducing the QoL even more.

Edited November 25, 2022 by Doggie.3184

[nucklepuckk.1805]

On 11/14/2022 at 7:53 AM, Stalima.5490 said:

My question would be, are ranger pets getting the same treatment? Because currently ranger pets are far more powerful than the mechanists pet, not only being way tougher to kill but are also able to do alot more damage.

Everything about this is wrong. See here:

Also, outside of Lynx, none of the other high dps pets get used in situations where damage per second matters - Tiger, Jaguar, Jacaranda. Pets are primarily taken for their utility, not their damage, because unlike the lolafk 11k Jade Mech, Ranger pets do terrible damage.

[Stalima.5490]

3 hours ago, nucklepuckk.1805 said:

Everything about this is wrong. See here:

Also, outside of Lynx, none of the other high dps pets get used in situations where damage per second matters - Tiger, Jaguar, Jacaranda. Pets are primarily taken for their utility, not their damage, because unlike the lolafk 11k Jade Mech, Ranger pets do terrible damage.

This function is NEVER going to get used in PvE so dont bother bringing up PvE it is 100% a PvP change

Edited November 29, 2022 by Stalima.5490

[Kuma.1503]

14 hours ago, nucklepuckk.1805 said:

Everything about this is wrong. See here:

Also, outside of Lynx, none of the other high dps pets get used in situations where damage per second matters - Tiger, Jaguar, Jacaranda. Pets are primarily taken for their utility, not their damage, because unlike the lolafk 11k Jade Mech, Ranger pets do terrible damage.

He's talking about PvP where ranger pets are very deadly, and harder to get rid of than the bot because they are tankier and the ranger has 2 of them. 

Soulbeast can also revive their pets for free by merging and unmerging. 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Kuma.1503

[lorddarkflare.9186]

Yeah, I like the idea that the mechanist needs proximity for maximum power, but I hate having to keep my eye on the bar. Some in-world indicator would be nice.

[GummiBear.4397]

1 hour ago, lorddarkflare.9186 said:

Yeah, I like the idea that the mechanist needs proximity for maximum power, but I hate having to keep my eye on the bar. Some in-world indicator would be nice.

I'm seeing a thin light blue circle around the mech range. If I get out of the circle, then after a few moments, my Mech 'Genius' flashes out. No circle for you? But I'd imagine that circle is going to be really hard to see when kitten goes wild with 5+ other people, so yeah...issue still exists. 

[Doctor Hide.6345]

23 minutes ago, Djevel.5062 said:

I'm seeing a thin light blue circle around the mech range. If I get out of the circle, then after a few moments, my Mech 'Genius' flashes out. No circle for you? But I'd imagine that circle is going to be really hard to see when kitten goes wild with 5+ other people, so yeah...issue still exists. 

 

Yeah, there is a circle to show the buff range, but like you said, it is hard to see once you get in combat with a lot of others. I got used to the circle from playing Deadeye knowing my range. I am not sure if other classes use it as well tbh.

[Kodama.6453]

1 hour ago, Djevel.5062 said:

I'm seeing a thin light blue circle around the mech range. If I get out of the circle, then after a few moments, my Mech 'Genius' flashes out. No circle for you? But I'd imagine that circle is going to be really hard to see when kitten goes wild with 5+ other people, so yeah...issue still exists. 

Btw, you see the thin light blue circle of EVERY mechanist. Not just your own.

I don't know why Anet decided that we have to see the radius from everyone else as well. The mechanic is clunky enough, can I please just see my own radius so I can use that information to keep the mech nearby? Knowing that another mechanist is standing out of range is useless info for me, I can't change that for them.

[GummiBear.4397]

53 minutes ago, Kodama.6453 said:

Btw, you see the thin light blue circle of EVERY mechanist. Not just your own.

I don't know why Anet decided that we have to see the radius from everyone else as well. The mechanic is clunky enough, can I please just see my own radius so I can use that information to keep the mech nearby? Knowing that another mechanist is standing out of range is useless info for me, I can't change that for them.

Yep! Just saw this in action during Chak Gerent meta. So many circles!

[Chichimec.9364]

On 11/25/2022 at 8:44 AM, Doggie.3184 said:

Short Leash command or don't add this change at all. Polish your game to support the changes that will break it. Spamming return isn't fun and it just runs off on its own afterwards anyways. We can't dye them to tell them apart despite you wanting us to stand near them for buffs and this new distance nerf, no alternate skins to help find it, no tag, no AI commands, no QoL whatsoever and you'll be reducing the QoL even more.

This. Very much this. Since Anet first announced that this nerf was coming, I've been using Blish HuD to show a 360 degree circle around my alts. In open world pve doing things like map completion or mat gathering, this new mechanic is not a big deal. As soon as you get into any large fights though, it becomes a very big deal indeed. Take the Echovald Wild Gang War meta for example. You are fighting npc mechs there and it becomes really difficult to keep track of your mech in the middle of all that. The last boss in that meta likes to swirl everyone around in circles. Good luck tracking your mech in the midst of that swirling mess. Yes, there is a return to me key but also yes, that key doesn't always work. Yuck!