My preference is for pets to be a spell/ability associated with a class. Nay to in game cosmetic gizmos.
And my Australian friend, you're burning that late night oil ;)
Kilsin said:Community Debate - In-game pets, real and/or cosmetic - what are your thoughts on pets, do you like them? Let us know what you think below #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
If a given class has one as part of parcel of its class, then yes, otherwise no pets at all for anybody else. If you want a pet, play a pet class.
kellindil said: ...Cosmetic pets are a bane. They are nothing more than clutter. I hope if they exist that we can turn them off. I don't want to see them.
IMO:
Agreed. And in addition to 'visually muting' them, their footsteps and/or pathfinding noises and/or animation/idle sounds should also be ignorable, mutable, or similar.
I still remember some MMOs that let you turn off others cosmetic pets visually, then you'd hear 2 footsteps x 8 pets every time they moved a millimeter in game. And no separate sound channel to turn them off. Absurd, ridiculous, incredibly annoying. :)
I don't enjoy playing pet classes. They are the few classes in Pantheon that I don't plan on playing.
The only cosmetic pets that I've ever collected are ones I can put on a hook to display in my player-owned housing. Something big and toothy right beside my front door is always a nice addition :)
Cosmetic pets following a groupmate around during battle - particularly in a dungeon - are irritating barriers to watching the combat for me.
As with many things, if other player's cosmetic pets (and their sounds) can be removed from my screen with a toggle, then by all means give the customers what they want.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - In-game pets, real and/or cosmetic - what are your thoughts on pets, do you like them? Let us know what you think below #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
I like anything that can add to the flavor/backstory of my characters, but if it doesn't have any function whatsoever and is purely superficial, it loses a lot of appeal and seems like a wasted opportunity on the development side of things. I tend only to have mounts in MMO/RPGs rather than pets, but have relied on abilities that temporarily call surrounding creature types to assist, whether those are wild animals or undead. It's weirdly the opposite in MTG. I love having a bunch of 1/1 minions to enchant and send in, especially if they're result of two cards being used, such as Myrsmith and any artifact spell. Even if the deck themed around creature tokens loses more than it wins, it's still fun.
The wise man's hat from the Labyrinth comes to mind whenever cosmetics are discussed. It was bizarre and attention-grabbing, but not a cheap gimmick. It worked with the scene, provided counterpoint, and gave its wearer more complexity than the traditional sage/hermit character that's usually encountered in fairy tale settings. It fit the description of a cosmetic pet, yet even though it was showy, it wasn't just for show. There was a reason for its being there and the audience could interpret that however they wanted. But put the same talking pet/hat on any of the other characters and the story loses its charm.
One alternative to cosmetic pets would be to offer a variety of real pet animations, both in combat and out. Fashion is big in these game worlds, but so are animations. The only thing cooler than the barrel roll in EQ was the backflip that froglok casters performed. I always wanted the dramatic iksar death animation on my human monk, probably just as much as many iksar monks wanted my human's flying kick animation. Similarly, I always wished that all of the female models of the different races had idle animations the way that males did. I would rather be offered /dance move options to buy, along with other emotes, instead of cosmetic pets. I could see a guild purchasing an emote for its members that would act as a secret handshake, as unifying as the "praise the sun" gesture in Dark Souls. This would extend to pets as well. An elemental pet could be summoned into the world in more ways than one while also disintegrating with the same irregularity. I get that some animations are signature moves, made specifically to emphasize differences in race/class identity, but the shared animation between all of them is death. Every player will die and die often, or at least play dead. There could be the default death animation and then a catalogue of other death animations to choose from. Those could have been included as pledge rewards. One free death/dance/rude animation for a character of your choosing.
As much as I enjoyed EQ, it made no sense that a slain water elemental would writhe around and crumble into the same lump as an earth elemental. Discussions about these quirks continue to crop up on the EMU servers. One player member of the community talked about how he leveled a bard for the first time in 2000 and after reaching the levels required to wield instruments, took one look at the prancing brass/wind animation and deleted the character, never to play bard again. That's on the extreme end, but animations are a thing among old EQ players. It's probably asking for too much, but if we're talking wishlists, more animations are on there. Cosmetic pets? Not so much. But then, who knows? It could be done in ways that complement a game world, in tandem with player housing so the cosmetic pets would be confined to player's/guild's house and land, mostly out of sight and mind of other players who would prefer they didn't even exist.
I like pet classes I think they are a great idea. Its nice to have a "buddy" to help you out as you travel around the world and if they are implemented well you can have an entirely unique style of play taking on monsters groups never ever tackle (they have nasty abilities/properties not condusive to safe leveling ) in zones no party ever goes too. FFXIs Beastmaster was a prime example of this and created unique communities on the servers that forged their own path on the servers doing things no party ever did.
Cosmetic pets I don't mind either as long as they dont get out of hand and get too flashy.
Cosmetic pets, annoying
Class pets, i would prefer they save pets for classes dedicated to pets.
Pet Classes, I hope they are done in a BIG way, major concentration on the pet, with little to character ability. Where the characte doesn't cast a lot of spells or DPS but instead commands the pet's attack.
I like the idea of cosmetic pets as long as there is some meaningful way they are aquired, tied into the lore and the world of Terminus. The more things players can work towards and customize their character with the better. Cosmetic pets is just another way to do this. There are so many ways to make the aquisition of these pets meaningful which can enrich the story of the player's character.
