Request to SoE regarding DogDog

[FeyHammer]

Everyone knows that using DogDog is a two edge sword.  The biggest gripe is that he dies often and that it takes forever to summon DogDog and cast his many buffs (5 in my case).  Basically all the downsides of a real pet class with only a fraction of the advantages.  In my personal experience, the largest single cause of dog death, is caused when grouping with a tank who is body  pulling encounters quickly and DogDog has a residual ward up from the last encounter fight.  Please, please, please Sony can you give us a way to cancel DogDog's "Aura of Warding"?  Here are some ideas for possible implementation: 1. The pet backoff command or button would cause DogDog's ward to cancel, ( in addition to backing off). 2. DogDog's ward will automatically cancel whenever both the Mystic and the dog are out of combat. 3. Give us an additional ability that lets us cancel DogDog's ward. Many mystics have given up on DogDog because of the frequent deaths and the extended time it takes to bring him back and buff him.  This solution would help decrease some of the inadvertant deaths that due to residual wards that are currently beyond the Mystics control.  Allowing us to cancel his ward would make him much more fun to play and would not unbalance the intended utility of DogDog. I don't know if anyone at SoE will read this, but if you don't ask, you don't get.  If you are a Mystic, please consider adding your support to this request.

[Thunderthyze]

I'll add my name but rarely depend on PupPup for anything other than company. In order to be useful he has to be more hardy. vvv? more like vvvvv! We're not asking for a tank pet, just something that doesn't drop dead when the wind changes and blows in its face!

[Bobbette]

LOL Holymoly. For awhile my dogdog was named "Dontsneezeilldie" and then for awhile more it was named "Elvis" so I could yell out "Elvis Lives!" if he survived a fight or "Elvis is dead!" if he didn't. I once saw a shaman with a dogdog named "Disco", presumably so he could say "Disco is Dead" lol.

[Greggthegrmreapr]

I always wanted to make a guild of shaman and wardens called "[I cannot control my vocabulary], they killed my dog again"

[Mal_Havok]

/agree My dog has had various names, some of which include: Pointless, Useless, Toofrailtobeuseful, Deadogwalking, and a few others which escape me at the moment.

[XeroOmega]

<p>my dog has his own special name....Speedbump. he was a ranger in a previous life.</p>

[Rythen16]

<p>Yes, our dogdog needs something to help him stay on his feet.</p><p>I have my dogdog named "Kenny" so I can say that the BAST**** killed Kenny.</p><p>Zogarr</p>

[Senr]

<cite>FeyHammer wrote:</cite><blockquote> Everyone knows that using DogDog is a two edge sword.  The biggest gripe is that he dies often and that it takes forever to summon DogDog and cast his many buffs (5 in my case).  Basically all the downsides of a real pet class with only a fraction of the advantages.  In my personal experience, the largest single cause of dog death, is caused when grouping with a tank who is body  pulling encounters quickly and DogDog has a residual ward up from the last encounter fight.  Please, please, please Sony can you give us a way to cancel DogDog's "Aura of Warding"?  Here are some ideas for possible implementation: 1. The pet backoff command or button would cause DogDog's ward to cancel, ( in addition to backing off). 2. DogDog's ward will automatically cancel whenever both the Mystic and the dog are out of combat. 3. Give us an additional ability that lets us cancel DogDog's ward. Many mystics have given up on DogDog because of the frequent deaths and the extended time it takes to bring him back and buff him.  This solution would help decrease some of the inadvertant deaths that due to residual wards that are currently beyond the Mystics control.  Allowing us to cancel his ward would make him much more fun to play and would not unbalance the intended utility of DogDog. I don't know if anyone at SoE will read this, but if you don't ask, you don't get.  If you are a Mystic, please consider adding your support to this request. </blockquote>The one change that would make the dog not terrible in my view would be to make him immune to AoE from the start. Don't make us spend 24 points in our strength line to get there. Still let the end of the strength line be the group AoE avoidance proc, but make him personally immune to AoE without it. It certainly feels like every mob anymore casts Stunning Cry, which DogDog doesn't live through. So you're spending 20 seconds after every fight to bring DogDog back if you don't have the AoE immunity. Personally, I've gone full out in the Agility line, because it is the only one that doesn't require DogDog.

[rumblepants]

<cite>Senr wrote:</cite><blockquote> The one change that would make the dog not terrible in my view would be to make him immune to AoE from the start. Don't make us spend 24 points in our strength line to get there. Still let the end of the strength line be the group AoE avoidance proc, but make him personally immune to AoE without it. It certainly feels like every mob anymore casts Stunning Cry, which DogDog doesn't live through. So you're spending 20 seconds after every fight to bring DogDog back if you don't have the AoE immunity. Personally, I've gone full out in the Agility line, because it is the only one that doesn't require DogDog. </blockquote>Ditto here. If I could ask for anything with my fragile mutt it would be AE avoidance from the start or something that doesn't require me to spend 24 AA.

[Apinia]

My Mystic alt loves his dogdog. He's still rubbish though which makes me sad, as I didn't do my research properly and the main reason for becoming a mystic was that I got a dogdog. At least if I was a defiler I would get a dogdog I could actually see. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Maybe have a Summon DogDog (Spirit Companion) spell thats upgradable through AA to 2 downs then one down then normal? give me some hope at least for later levels, I am level 22 and struggling to level without grinding level 20 mobs.

[Bobbette]

<cite>FeyHammer wrote:</cite><blockquote> Everyone knows that using DogDog is a two edge sword.  The biggest gripe is that he dies often and that it takes forever to summon DogDog and cast his many buffs (5 in my case).  Basically all the downsides of a real pet class with only a fraction of the advantages.  In my personal experience, the largest single cause of dog death, is caused when grouping with a tank who is body  pulling encounters quickly and DogDog has a residual ward up from the last encounter fight.  Please, please, please Sony can you give us a way to cancel DogDog's "Aura of Warding"?  Here are some ideas for possible implementation: 1. The pet backoff command or button would cause DogDog's ward to cancel, ( in addition to backing off). 2. DogDog's ward will automatically cancel whenever both the Mystic and the dog are out of combat. 3. Give us an additional ability that lets us cancel DogDog's ward. Many mystics have given up on DogDog because of the frequent deaths and the extended time it takes to bring him back and buff him.  This solution would help decrease some of the inadvertant deaths that due to residual wards that are currently beyond the Mystics control.  Allowing us to cancel his ward would make him much more fun to play and would not unbalance the intended utility of DogDog. I don't know if anyone at SoE will read this, but if you don't ask, you don't get.  If you are a Mystic, please consider adding your support to this request. </blockquote>I would love some way to cancel the group ward proc!  Even if it was that the symbol was right-click-cancel like our other wards. The other posters' suggestions about making the dogdog immune to AOE from the start and having the end of the strength line be group immune proc is another great suggestion.  It would certainly open up alot more diversity in AA choices. I struggle with the KoS AA choices.  I alternate between hating the dog & wanting to go Agi with Ritual (wis) and feeling like I need to have dogdog for the debuff AAs I can pick for it and ward proc (even if I do only use it like 25% of the time).

[Collum]

I just got my dog last night... 2 hits and it is dead. I guess I should have put that point into one of the other trees.....

[Jatofyr324]

I don't see what you guys are complaining about, dogdog owns. 16% haste and a ward proc + a proc to make other people AE immune will never be pointless.

[rumblepants]

<cite>Collum wrote:</cite><blockquote>I just got my dog last night... 2 hits and it is dead. I guess I should have put that point into one of the other trees..... </blockquote> Well you'll need to put that point in it anyway just to start your Shaman tree. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> From here though this is where you make your choice, pet-focused or not. The dog doesn't really come on its own until you have spent at least 5 points in STR (you get Leg Bleed which is a nice little DoT of sorts for your dog assuming you use spears) and at least 9 points into it when you start to get the group buffs the dog provides. I duo alot, almost exclusively, so I think the dog is pretty important to me though not overly critical. He can haste the both of us now and can proc group ward which is dandy. He requires some maintenance and control but eh, not too hard IMHO, and sure beats him dying alot. If we grouped alot more, I probably would have not gone with STR and the pet, and focused on AGI and maybe WIS instead.

[Caldabuse]

The problem I have with DogDog is that of control.. it seems totally random (to me, I'm sure there's an internal reason) which AEs will kill him and which won't. Then there's the ward...  it's a great skill, I really like it... but eager tanks body pulling cause DogDog to get eaten. And I have no control over that. It's not fun to have him die and lose his other buffs because he got hit by a stray AE or because someone didn't cancel their dog ward. Then I have to stop and resummon and rebuff, which takes forever. Make him beefier, hitpoint wise, or at least just make spiritual foresight block ALL AEs. Let us cancel his ward, or, even better, make it so the ward doesn't draw aggro. Systems where the player doesn't have much control over the outcome aren't fun and if we're forced to use our dog for so many of our AAs, at least make him stick around.

[FeyHammer]

Lyxson@Oasis wrote: <blockquote>I don't see what you guys are complaining about, dogdog owns. 16% haste and a ward proc + a proc to make other people AE immune will never be pointless. </blockquote>Ummm... yeah.  Kinda the point of the thread is that DogDog is great... but only when he is ALIVE.  When he dies, most of your KOS AA abilities go down the drain and take a LONG time to get back.  The whole idea is to ask Sony to give a bit more control so that we can have a fighting chance at keeping DogDog alive.  When you first get the Dog you are amazed at how often he dies when someone looks at him sideways.  Then when you get him AA'ed out you are pretty happy and with a bit of skill you can keep him up most of the time. Then you start doing high end content (FTH, CMM) and all the sudden you are back to DogDog dieing on most pulls and you can't rez him and buff him fast enough.  When DogDog dies all the time, he becomes a constant burden to rez and offers little to no benefit.  You might as well not have KoS AAs, under those conditions.

[Jatofyr324]

Thats why you get the AE avoid <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. I heard there are a couple of AE's that are bugged in EoF that hit him, though.

[Eugam]

Dog is my best friend in-game <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Really, just adopt to it and all is fine. In fast bodypulling groups i dont send the dog in and just keep him as haste buff around. If things start to go the wrong way i still can send him in and hope for a ward proc to help us survive. If a tank knows the mystic i can send him in all the time and do some dps instead of warding. Solo he is my main healer and sometimes i ward him and let him pull. He never dies when soloing, because i give him the HP buff and always use the group ward on us both.

[zaun2]

I sometimes use dogdog for some gnarly pulls.  For example, when I need Thexian Archons for the mid 50s writs, I clear a nice chunk of free area on the cliffs in lfay looking down into the Thexian camp, ward dogdog, shoot him across the field to a hapless archon, let dogdog connect, then reel him in.  Usually 1-2 mobs agro, but they leash since they have received no damage (damaged mobs have a longer leash radius), and I end up with one honked off dark elf on the point of my trident.  

[rvbarton]

<blockquote> Solo he is my main healer and sometimes i ward him and let him pull. He never dies when soloing, because i give him the HP buff and always use the group ward on us both.</blockquote> Cool!  I thought I had tried casting Omen on dogdog, and it didn't work.  Good to know that it does work now! I'll start using dogdog to do my dirty work for me! Thanks for the tip!