I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion because it of course is a step backwards one Central Tyria Masteries, but the reason that true AFK farming is able to be done is because there is a passive that allows those afkers to loot without being at the computer. If you want to fix it, absolutely and finally and with no way to continue exploiting or new locations to farm, you eliminate the auto-loot passive and you make loot drops disappear from the ground more quickly.
This is of course a nuclear solution that punishes everyone for the actions of a small group. Perhaps a middle ground can be found… something along the lines of if the absolute position of your character doesn’t change by X/Y/Z distance every XX seconds/minutes, the auto-loot function disables, coupled with said loot drop timeout, at least it would force people to be at their computer if they want to continue minimal effort farming an area.
Once you apply one or the other, it makes the only form of true AFK farming in to botting, which is an absolutely and unambiguously bannable offense, at which point you crack down on that. I for one would love to see the return of Dhuum.
I would be very upset if ANet removed autolooting from the game. I didn’t realize just how much more fun the game is with it until I spent 20 minutes on my alt account last Halloween, working on dailies in the labyrinth. Fighting and worrying about being close enough to foes to collect loot… no thanks.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
The problem is, people would just use a macro, nothing would change and ArenaNet would continue with their whispers. They’d need something you couldn’t bot, like captchas. To counter actual bots for example, they could require a captcha after a certain amount of reports. The problem with Lake Doric however is that the majority was AFKing, so there’s no one to report it. In that case, they’d have to rely on something automated to flag them, like kills without movement.
ArenaNet’s solution was just something quick and easy they could throw in, specifically something the content team could put together. A proper solution would require a lot more work, which I doubt they’ll ever do considering this has a problem since launch.
The problem is, people would just use a macro, nothing would change and ArenaNet would continue with their whispers. They’d need something you couldn’t bot, like captchas. To counter actual bots for example, they could require a captcha after a certain amount of reports. The problem with Lake Doric however is that the majority was AFKing, so there’s no one to report it. In that case, they’d have to rely on something automated to flag them, like kills without movement.
ArenaNet’s solution was just something quick and easy they could throw in, specifically something the content team could put together. A proper solution would require a lot more work, which I doubt they’ll ever do considering this has a problem since launch.
A different option would be to add a minimum lifespan for critters before they give XP or items, and improve drop rates in line with bonus XP. If you’re just melting mobs as soon as they spawn, then you get nothing, or close to it.
Another would be to randomize spawns so that a point that is mostly trash mobs still occasionally spawns an elite instead that requires some attention.
The problem is, people would just use a macro, nothing would change and ArenaNet would continue with their whispers. They’d need something you couldn’t bot, like captchas. To counter actual bots for example, they could require a captcha after a certain amount of reports. The problem with Lake Doric however is that the majority was AFKing, so there’s no one to report it. In that case, they’d have to rely on something automated to flag them, like kills without movement.
Yes, some people would start using macros, which are blatantly and flagrantly disregarding the ToS. The problem with handing out bans for semi-afk farming (so that they can reply when ANet messages them) is that it is not a violation of the ToS, and so not a bannable offense. The moment you set up a macro or bot, however, the ban hammer can fall and the behavior will eventually end.
IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
A different option would be to add a minimum lifespan for critters before they give XP or items, and improve drop rates in line with bonus XP. If you’re just melting mobs as soon as they spawn, then you get nothing, or close to it.
Another would be to randomize spawns so that a point that is mostly trash mobs still occasionally spawns an elite instead that requires some attention.
I actually like this idea as well to an extent… a loot table increase based on the amount of time that a creature or set of creatures has been alive. The immediate concern is that it also negates the idea of a heavily re-spawning farm area like this to begin with. It would be difficult to balance.
In a tangential note not directed at those who have posted in this thread so far, for those who seem to have jumped on the “They set up a farm and get upset that people are farming” train, how dense do you have to be to not see that this is not farming but rather it is exploiting game mechanics for unintended consequences? They want you to PLAY the game, not sit in one place and be rewarded. They aren’t objecting to you farming, they are objecting to you blatantly NOT farming yet still gaining a benefit.
Punish the players breaking the rules, not the ones following them.
For the record, I don’t necessarily condone the idea of punishing everyone, but when there is a consistent problem then it is important to look at the root of the problem rather than the symptoms.
The immediate concern is that it also negates the idea of a heavily re-spawning farm area like this to begin with. It would be difficult to balance.
I think the notion of such an area is half the problem. If the mobs come to the players in an endless stream to be slaughtered, you just created a tower defense game, so of course people are going to play it.
re: If you’re really trying to say phantasms are on the same level as necro minions and ranger pets, I’m not sure if you should be calling other people clueless. – No, he’s saying that all those things attack on their own. In response to “Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do.” The point being classes besides ranger, necro, and engineer have summons that attack on their own, but do not have the same longevity as ranger pets, necro minions, engineer turrets; and certainly shouldn’t be treated like they are the same.
The problem with “afk farming” (the title of this thread) is persistent pets, not skills that go away after a short time. If a player is away from their computer for more than a few minutes their turrets, thieves guild, spirit weapons, etc. do not automatically attack nearby mobs because they despawn after a short time.
There is a reason why afk farmers choose rangers and necros and not any of the other professions mentioned… O.o
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Punish the players breaking the rules, not the ones following them.
For the record, I don’t necessarily condone the idea of punishing everyone, but when there is a consistent problem then it is important to look at the root of the problem rather than the symptoms.
You’re misinterpreting the problem. Players will always look to maximize the reward/effort ratio. Obviously, as effort approaches zero said ratio approaches infinity. That’s not a reason to never ever implement any quality of life features. Because this is not the one and only factor when it comes to player’s decision making process. For instance, making the reward small enough will cause players to lose interest. Of course, in case of Lake Doric this kind of defeats the purpose of introducing the farm, so they went for something else. Killing a QoL feature that allows the farm is trying to fix a pest problem by burning down a house. Not to mention it won’t fix the problem, as many players will simply move to macros or more sophisticated ways of automating the “F” keystroke.
If you want to fix it, absolutely and finally and with no way to continue exploiting or new locations to farm, you eliminate the auto-loot passive and you make loot drops disappear from the ground more quickly.
You know what else would fix this absolutely and finally and with no way to continue exploiting? Removing loot from mobs alltogether from the game. Stupid you say? Sure, but it would solve the problem. Just like your suggestion…
The game is almost not playable without auto-loot, it’s one of the first masteries I went for. Without it, I would probably stop looting mobs at all, except champs and bosses.
This would kitten a lot of people off and cause more harm in the comunity than all afk-farmers could ever do. I welcome Necro-farmers in BF, they are doing a community service by keeping the berry nodes clean. They don’t bother me at all, and most players probably think like me, but they don’t come to the forums and shout how little they care.
You are suggesting a major change to the playstyle of everybody to get rid of a minor issue that bothers few. Not a good idea at all.
the problem with afk farming is that there is no problem with afk farming
farmers, afk or not, fill a niche in the game economy
most whiny kittens here interpret (afk) farming as a problem and that’s fine, it’s their opinion
objectively, loot drops obtained from regular gameplay aren’t enough to maintain reasonable prices in the trading post, point in case: leather mats
here come farmers, who alleviate the kittened prices by filling the demand for x material
i guess most of these sycophants defending anet would rather spend real money in gems to skip the grind
IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.
No. Just no.
The stats of a class are balanced around having a pet. A ranger without a pet is not worth playing.
ANY class can have a pet. All you need to do is wear 6 ogre runes. See? Choices.
Say you do nerf pets/minions/turrets ….. cheaters will just use what is the next easiest mechanic.
If you leave a mob alive for some time they will get give more experience when killed. The longer a mob was alive, the higher the experience bonus, which is a very nice mechanic to force people to search for distant mobs. This already exists in the game, so why not do the opposite? If a mob is killed within split seconds of spawning it will reward zero experience and not drop anything. It won’t punish legit players, it won’t punish those who afk alone or 1-2 farmers, but it will eradicate multi-person farming as it will now be pointless.
the problem with afk farming is that there is no problem with afk farming
farmers, afk or not, fill a niche in the game economy
most whiny kittens here interpret (afk) farming as a problem and that’s fine, it’s their opinion
objectively, loot drops obtained from regular gameplay aren’t enough to maintain reasonable prices in the trading post, point in case: leather mats
here come farmers, who alleviate the kittened prices by filling the demand for x material
i guess most of these sycophants defending anet would rather spend real money in gems to skip the grind
Oh yes, the very very old “But botters/cheaters/exploiters are actually helpful because they reduce prices!” argument.
Ok, let’s say they have an economic impact to actually affect prices by a noticable margin. What that means is that they’re devalueing all the stuff you have in your bank and are the only ones to actually get gold from it.
What ANET SHOULD do in my opinion is banning those people in droves. But that would require actual manpower (which costs money) and is difficult to verify.
Cue 10000 “Waaah, I just went to the toilet for 5 minutes and just idled on my necro/ranger in some event area and now I’m banned!” posts everywhere.
ANET has said on the forums that AFK farming in that combination with skills on autocast is cheating (and no, I won’t look up the post).
But you can only report so many cheaters before you get tired of the game.
“But you could chill and ignore them!”. Well, suppose I could. In my eyes hordes of botters/cheaters which I witness reduce the value and enjoyment of a game since I believe that to get a reward of any kind, you should play a game. Stuff like that should happen in some low quality asian grinder MMO but not in our game.
In my eyes hordes of botters/cheaters which I witness reduce the value and enjoyment of a game since I believe that to get a reward of any kind, you should play a game.
Where are you playing? I’m at 92% world completion and play in all areas of the world, and only saw berry-necros and pony-engis, and only the latter could be called a “horde”. Maybe you are really looking hard and mistake people who are just afk without farming for "hordes of botters/cheaters.
There are no hordes of botters and cheaters in this game, otherwise people would notice them, right?
Maybe a better question: when do you play? It’s quite possible that those hordes storm the world while I’m asleep. I live in Germany.
In my eyes hordes of botters/cheaters which I witness reduce the value and enjoyment of a game since I believe that to get a reward of any kind, you should play a game.
Where are you playing? I’m at 92% world completion and play in all areas of the world, and only saw berry-necros and pony-engis, and only the latter could be called a “horde”. Maybe you are really looking hard and mistake people who are just afk without farming for "hordes of botters/cheaters.
There are no hordes of botters and cheaters in this game, otherwise people would notice them, right?
Maybe a better question: when do you play? It’s quite possible that those hordes storm the world while I’m asleep. I live in Germany.
So do I But I do like to run around the new zones a lot, and the worst spots for those are indeed Bitterfrost (running around one circle for berries yields AT LEAST 15 afk “farmers” using Necro GS4 on autocast or the ranger torch AoE skill).
Other areas which I frequent are Lake Doric and also a well “frequented” spot is Dry Top.
It is very disheartening to see the same people there for weeks leading to my assumptions that they’re at it sometimes near 24/7.
Another negative consequence of such behaviour is that it may lead to negative QoL changes or even nerfs for classes.
We cannot fix the AFK problem? Uuuuuhhh……let’s let necro pets simply die after a while, they can’t resummon them….if they’re not botting with scripts….yeah.
Or autoloot might go the way of the dodo. Or monsters might not drop any loot for you unless you moved 5 meters from your last loot leading to decreased drops for honest players. Or…..people gain karma via the zone infusions? Why not nerf that rate for everyone so afk farming is less lucrative?
IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.
No. Just no.
The stats of a class are balanced around having a pet. A ranger without a pet is not worth playing.
ANY class can have a pet. All you need to do is wear 6 ogre runes. See? Choices.
Say you do nerf pets/minions/turrets ….. cheaters will just use what is the next easiest mechanic.
If you read my post you are responding to, I don’t say remove pets, I say “remove the ability of pets to attack on their own”. Sure it’s handy if you have to go to the bathroom and something attacks you in game there’s a chance the pet will protect you. But what is the actual gameplay, non-afk use of the pet being able to attack on its own (i.e. not in response to you attacking something or directing it to attack)?
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
In my eyes hordes of botters/cheaters which I witness reduce the value and enjoyment of a game since I believe that to get a reward of any kind, you should play a game.
Where are you playing? I’m at 92% world completion and play in all areas of the world, and only saw berry-necros and pony-engis, and only the latter could be called a “horde”. Maybe you are really looking hard and mistake people who are just afk without farming for "hordes of botters/cheaters.
There are no hordes of botters and cheaters in this game, otherwise people would notice them, right?
Maybe a better question: when do you play? It’s quite possible that those hordes storm the world while I’m asleep. I live in Germany.
As you say, there are no “hordes”, that is hyperbole. I detest cheaters myself but blowing reports of them out of proportion is not helpful. It just makes people think that there isn’t really a problem since the claim of “hordes” is obviously false.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.
No. Just no.
The stats of a class are balanced around having a pet. A ranger without a pet is not worth playing.
ANY class can have a pet. All you need to do is wear 6 ogre runes. See? Choices.
Say you do nerf pets/minions/turrets ….. cheaters will just use what is the next easiest mechanic.
If you read my post you are responding to, I don’t say remove pets, I say “remove the ability of pets to attack on their own”. Sure it’s handy if you have to go to the bathroom and something attacks you in game there’s a chance the pet will protect you. But what is the actual gameplay, non-afk use of the pet being able to attack on its own (i.e. not in response to you attacking something or directing it to attack)?
You are removing the whole point of pets. If I needed more of an attack to what I was fighting I would choose a class with better stats. With a ranger I have something that can watch my back for me.
IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.
It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves). All summons do this, actually, it’s just that necromancer minions are the only summons with no inherent time limit attached (and ranger pets are our class mechanic).
I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion because it of course is a step backwards one Central Tyria Masteries, but the reason that true AFK farming is able to be done is because there is a passive that allows those afkers to loot without being at the computer. If you want to fix it, absolutely and finally and with no way to continue exploiting or new locations to farm, you eliminate the auto-loot passive and you make loot drops disappear from the ground more quickly.
This is of course a nuclear solution that punishes everyone for the actions of a small group. Perhaps a middle ground can be found… something along the lines of if the absolute position of your character doesn’t change by X/Y/Z distance every XX seconds/minutes, the auto-loot function disables, coupled with said loot drop timeout, at least it would force people to be at their computer if they want to continue minimal effort farming an area.
Once you apply one or the other, it makes the only form of true AFK farming in to botting, which is an absolutely and unambiguously bannable offense, at which point you crack down on that. I for one would love to see the return of Dhuum.
I don’t understand why they allow you to gain anything from a target a pet killed with zero input from the player. I think the issue could be resolved by simply fixing that. It should have minimal impact on players who are actually playing the game and completely shut down the ability for groups of players to passively farm by going AFK with a bunch of pets up.
I also will point out again that any profession can wear 6 ogre runes and have a pet most of the time. If someone complains they do not want to give up their rune slots? Well, rangers feel the same way about giving up our pets. As to solving AFK farming, well, some people will always take whatever is the easiest option to make money. If AFK farming is of particular concern to you for some reason look at why they are doing it and address that cause rather than nerfing the entire profession. For example, if leather was not needed as much you would see less people afk farming it ….. although they will go to whatever is next.
Before HOT and LS3 the thing was SW, especially the chest farm runs. Should anet have taken away the chests?
I also will point out again that any profession can wear 6 ogre runes and have a pet most of the time. If someone complains they do not want to give up their rune slots? Well, rangers feel the same way about giving up our pets. As to solving AFK farming, well, some people will always take whatever is the easiest option to make money. If AFK farming is of particular concern to you for some reason look at why they are doing it and address that cause rather than nerfing the entire profession. For example, if leather was not needed as much you would see less people afk farming it ….. although they will go to whatever is next.
Before HOT and LS3 the thing was SW, especially the chest farm runs. Should anet have taken away the chests?
That’s a very good point – AB MM was nerfed largely because too many people were doing it and it was “too” profitable (or so it seems to myself and much of the community). Yet nothing has been done to nerf the SW chest farm. You can still make as many loops around the map and continuously open chests as long as somebody has another shovel handy. Why shouldn’t SW chest farming be nerfed the same way that AB multi-map was? (Note, I am not condoning such action…)
I also will point out again that any profession can wear 6 ogre runes and have a pet most of the time. If someone complains they do not want to give up their rune slots? Well, rangers feel the same way about giving up our pets. As to solving AFK farming, well, some people will always take whatever is the easiest option to make money. If AFK farming is of particular concern to you for some reason look at why they are doing it and address that cause rather than nerfing the entire profession. For example, if leather was not needed as much you would see less people afk farming it ….. although they will go to whatever is next.
Before HOT and LS3 the thing was SW, especially the chest farm runs. Should anet have taken away the chests?
That’s a very good point – AB MM was nerfed largely because too many people were doing it and it was “too” profitable (or so it seems to myself and much of the community). Yet nothing has been done to nerf the SW chest farm. You can still make as many loops around the map and continuously open chests as long as somebody has another shovel handy. Why shouldn’t SW chest farming be nerfed the same way that AB multi-map was? (Note, I am not condoning such action…)
I’m guessing it’s because you still have to earn bandit crests to buy the keys, or collect enough silky sand and get a few keys when you refine the sand. Either way, you have to do something to get those keys, they’re not exactly free.
Asura characters: Zerina | Myndee | Rissa | Jaxxi | Feyyt | Bekka | Sixx | Akee | Tylee | Nuumy
| Claara
Your skin will wrinkle and your youth will fade, but your soul is endless.
I also will point out again that any profession can wear 6 ogre runes and have a pet most of the time. If someone complains they do not want to give up their rune slots? Well, rangers feel the same way about giving up our pets. As to solving AFK farming, well, some people will always take whatever is the easiest option to make money. If AFK farming is of particular concern to you for some reason look at why they are doing it and address that cause rather than nerfing the entire profession. For example, if leather was not needed as much you would see less people afk farming it ….. although they will go to whatever is next.
Before HOT and LS3 the thing was SW, especially the chest farm runs. Should anet have taken away the chests?
That’s a very good point – AB MM was nerfed largely because too many people were doing it and it was “too” profitable (or so it seems to myself and much of the community). Yet nothing has been done to nerf the SW chest farm. You can still make as many loops around the map and continuously open chests as long as somebody has another shovel handy. Why shouldn’t SW chest farming be nerfed the same way that AB multi-map was? (Note, I am not condoning such action…)
I’m guessing it’s because you still have to earn bandit crests to buy the keys, or collect enough silky sand and get a few keys when you refine the sand. Either way, you have to do something to get those keys, they’re not exactly free.
I don’t think that’s it either – you have to get the Exalted Keys for AB, and you can get them by buying them or by drops from doing events…the same kitten.
IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.
It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).
They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.
All summons do this, actually, it’s just that necromancer minions are the only summons with no inherent time limit attached (and ranger pets are our class mechanic).
Yes, but we are talking specifically about afk farming, so other profession summons don’t matter to this conversation. What matters is persistent pets that allow a person to walk away from their computer (afk) for long periods of time.
So I will ask again, what is the legitimate gameplay reason to have pets able to attack without direction? I can’t think of one but I’m asking.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.
It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).
They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.
All summons do this, actually, it’s just that necromancer minions are the only summons with no inherent time limit attached (and ranger pets are our class mechanic).
Yes, but we are talking specifically about afk farming, so other profession summons don’t matter to this conversation. What matters is persistent pets that allow a person to walk away from their computer (afk) for long periods of time.
So I will ask again, what is the legitimate gameplay reason to have pets able to attack without direction? I can’t think of one but I’m asking.
Nothing comes to mind for me either. Having my pet restricted to attacking my target, or targets I assign, would be fine with me as a ranger main player.
passive farming is allowed
however, most measures suggested here would affect practically all players, not just actual afk farmers
this anti-farming crusade borderlines on fanatical
the sensible option would be to let people play the game however they want as long as it doesn’t break the tos
passive farming is allowed
however, most measures suggested here would affect practically all players, not just actual afk farmers
this anti-farming crusade borderlines on fanatical
the sensible option would be to let people play the game however they want as long as it doesn’t break the tos
HOW DARE YOU suggest a sensible course of action! This is the internet! WE! MUST! FLY! OFF! THE! HANDLE! TO! THE! NTH! DEGREE!
I didn’t try to skew their words, I said “afk farming”. AFK = Away From Keyboard which is commonly known as being away from your computer. You can’t “continuously monitor the game” if you are away from your computer. Very simple.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Wow, so much salt and hate in this thread without a reason. Engi turret farm was fixed the best (and most elegant) way possible – without breaking profession skills or desrtoying the farm. Just do the same to Bitterfrost and everything is ok.
Remember, AFK-farm did not exist prior to Bitterfrost and Doric. The root of the problem is the bad design of these locations. And it was already fixed in Doric. Aim the cannons on BF’s berries and problem solved.
But don’t touch the summons mechanics. For a lot of people it is a quality of life feature – to go to the bathroom and stay alive because of your pet/rock dog from ogre rune protecting you to the last. I don’t really care about the loot from creatures killed solo by a pet, but a pet should be defending his player, not gladly staring at his master getting killed.
Remember, AFK-farm did not exist prior to Bitterfrost and Doric.
Of course it did. It’s just much less noticeable in other locations. (Besides which, turret farming requires active management — that’s not AFK farming).
I can understand that it bothers player to see a tiny fraction of the community leaving toons in one spot while the player is watching a movie or doing their homework. That doesn’t mean it meets ANet’s definition of AFK farming. Even when that threshold is crossed, it’s up to ANet to decide if it’s an issue.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
Engi turret farm was fixed the best (and most elegant) way possible – without breaking profession skills or destroying the farm.
This statement fills me with various emotions that can only be depicted with a suitable emoticon but I’m torn between O.o and XD and and >.>
Which is the best (and most elegant) way to express my reaction to this statement?
Also, on a sadder note – if this is the best solution possible, then it means it’s all downhill from here. Any future farming issues can only be solved with worse solutions than this, since this is the best and all.
This ideea is one of the worst cases of “cutting the arm to remove a bruised finger” that I have seen in a good long while…
How is removing something that is not necessary “cutting off the arm”? No one has yet given a reason why pets need to be able to attack independently of player action.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
This ideea is one of the worst cases of “cutting the arm to remove a bruised finger” that I have seen in a good long while…
How is removing something that is not necessary “cutting off the arm”? No one has yet given a reason why pets need to be able to attack independently of player action.
Okay. Because Player and Pet may not be in range of the same targets. This is especially true with the Engineer turrets, as they can’t move to follow the player.
Now, with that said… pets are not supposed to attack non-aggro enemies on their own. Yellow enemies and random bunnies should be safe, unless something else starts the fight. Aggro enemies will start the fight on their own once they see a target, so there’s no harm in the pet jumping in against them.
Sarcasm, delivered with a
delicate, brick-like subtlety.
This ideea is one of the worst cases of “cutting the arm to remove a bruised finger” that I have seen in a good long while…
How is removing something that is not necessary “cutting off the arm”? No one has yet given a reason why pets need to be able to attack independently of player action.
How is it not? You aren’t thinking this through. Passive attacking is a basic feature of pets. I’m not familiar enough with pets in this game to recall exactly how they work, but in other games I’ve played ranger pets have behavior settings such as “passive”, “aggressive”, and “defend”. These setting make playing pet classes far less annoying. Your proposal would be a huge QoL downgrade.
How about just removing credit for passively killed targets? If the pet does 100% of the work, it gets a treat. But you? You didn’t do anything. No soup for you!
This ideea is one of the worst cases of “cutting the arm to remove a bruised finger” that I have seen in a good long while…
How is removing something that is not necessary “cutting off the arm”? No one has yet given a reason why pets need to be able to attack independently of player action.
How is it not? You aren’t thinking this through. Passive attacking is a basic feature of pets. I’m not familiar enough with pets in this game to recall exactly how they work, but in other games I’ve played ranger pets have behavior settings such as “passive”, “aggressive”, and “defend”. These setting make playing pet classes far less annoying. Your proposal would be a huge QoL downgrade.
How about just removing credit for passively killed targets? If the pet does 100% of the work, it gets a treat. But you? You didn’t do anything. No soup for you!
“Passive attacking” isn’t a thing. In a game where you can set a pet to “passive”, the pet doesn’t attack at all, even if attacked.
What I’m talking about is pets acting without the player acting. This is the basic problem that allows AFK farming. If you are Away From Keyboard, your pet can attack in your absence. My question is why this is necessary in normal gameplay (I understand why it is necessary for farming ;P ) In normal gameplay, if you are attacked you either respond (and the pet responds with you), or you direct the pet to respond. No automated pet response is required.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
This ideea is one of the worst cases of “cutting the arm to remove a bruised finger” that I have seen in a good long while…
How is removing something that is not necessary “cutting off the arm”? No one has yet given a reason why pets need to be able to attack independently of player action.
How is it not? You aren’t thinking this through. Passive attacking is a basic feature of pets. I’m not familiar enough with pets in this game to recall exactly how they work, but in other games I’ve played ranger pets have behavior settings such as “passive”, “aggressive”, and “defend”. These setting make playing pet classes far less annoying. Your proposal would be a huge QoL downgrade.
How about just removing credit for passively killed targets? If the pet does 100% of the work, it gets a treat. But you? You didn’t do anything. No soup for you!
“Passive attacking” isn’t a thing. In a game where you can set a pet to “passive”, the pet doesn’t attack at all, even if attacked.
What I’m talking about is pets acting without the player acting. This is the basic problem that allows AFK farming. If you are Away From Keyboard, your pet can attack in your absence. My question is why this is necessary in normal gameplay (I understand why it is necessary for farming ;P ) In normal gameplay, if you are attacked you either respond (and the pet responds with you), or you direct the pet to respond. No automated pet response is required.
I’m pretty sure if you managed to read the word “passive” and understand its meaning in this context, then you were also able to read the words “aggressive” and “defend” and discern their meanings.
A better question than why these settings are useful outside of AFK farming is why you feel it’s a better solution to remove them than to directly address the issue by simply removing the loot from passively killed targets? What’s your compelling argument for removing them beyond AFK farming?
IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.
It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).
They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.
Actually, yes, they do. When a mob surrounds me I can focus on what is in front of me and my pet can get whatever is hitting me from behind.
I will say it again. The balance of the ranger class accounts for this. Take it away and you have nerfed all rangers, not just the ones taking advantage of things.
Hmm, in the 2 most recent profession-specific farms the issue was necros and engineers. So it would seem that rangers have been playing by the rules anyway?
But I do like to run around the new zones a lot, and the worst spots for those are indeed Bitterfrost (running around one circle for berries yields AT LEAST 15 afk “farmers” using Necro GS4 on autocast or the ranger torch AoE skill).
and >.>