Guild Wars 2

Would it be possible to add some sort of way to display pet health over the utility slots they use? Perhaps have a creeping green texture like the one that comes up when you use death shroud, going up the screen to a certain point. That way, Necros would have a better way to try and launch off one last active before their Golem is out for good or suicide Bone Minions when they get too low health.

I think they have a health bar if you hover over. I haven’t used minions in so long I forget Hopefully the patch will change that!

we seriously need a UI that lets us see there health and lets us set them to defensive/aggressive modes.

TheycallmeCoconutJones.7052:

we seriously need a UI that lets us see there health and lets us set them to defensive/aggressive modes.

No modes, they aren’t ranger pets, stop trying, (insert elitism about how only bad MMs want this), go play GW1s MM and come back to talk minion control, otherQQhere.

Minion UI to show health is a big QoL improvement to lessen some of the “bad” microing we have to do that actually hurts how you play the builds, without needing to directly buff anything.

And seriously stop asking for modes, we don’t need them, and it removes a lot of the counterplay they have. It would be 10x easier to make 1v1s hell on mobile builds with that, and they already have it pretty bad.

Here ya go, for clarification for those who don’t know what we mean:

Bhawb.7408 > A come back button or were NO master! Oh wait… I think we both been over this before ;-P
Shall we start calling it MS instead (Moron Summoner)…

+1 for UI. Also a way to edit nameplates – health bar size, colours (including hostile player or mob in WvW, I hate seeing a red out the corner of my eye and it’s a mob, not a zerg)

Bhawb.7408:

TheycallmeCoconutJones.7052:

we seriously need a UI that lets us see there health and lets us set them to defensive/aggressive modes.

No modes, they aren’t ranger pets, stop trying, (insert elitism about how only bad MMs want this), go play GW1s MM and come back to talk minion control, otherQQhere.

Minion UI to show health is a big QoL improvement to lessen some of the “bad” microing we have to do that actually hurts how you play the builds, without needing to directly buff anything.

And seriously stop asking for modes, we don’t need them, and it removes a lot of the counterplay they have. It would be 10x easier to make 1v1s hell on mobile builds with that, and they already have it pretty bad.

It really is your mission in life to dump on anyone who wants improvements made to minions. Who cares if they aren’t ranger pets, that prevents us from having a UI with their health on it too for the sake of clarity? Simply showing their health or having an attack/defend toggle isn’t their class mechanic, its having multiple commands, taming and the ability to switch between dozens of different pets to fit any situation or preference, with tons of traits and skills revolving around pets to further customize them. I’m pretty sure now that minions don’t aggro things anymore that we won’t get an attack/defend button, but I don’t see why a hp bar would be out of the question.

god forbid that you want to tell your MINION to stop chasing butterfly’s and stick close to his master

/rolls eyes

I would love to see the GW1 minion UI return so we can track the health of our summons. Actually I would love to have this for any class that uses summons; spirit weapons, elementals, etc. Bonus points if there’s a timer on the ones that are limited time.

All that said, minion command buttons are out of the question. I mean really, forgive me for sounding like a crotchety old man, but back in GW1 minions aggroed the kitten out of things and the only way to get them off of a target was for them or the target to die, period. No running far enough away that the teleport to you, nope once your minions opened fire it was a fight to the death. And you know what, that was GOOD, because they also head health degeneration so it was stupid to try and keep them around for too long anyways, really helped emphasize that they were disposable summons not lifelong friends like ranger pets.

Relair.1843:

It really is your mission in life to dump on anyone who wants improvements made to minions. Who cares if they aren’t ranger pets, that prevents us from having a UI with their health on it too for the sake of clarity? Simply showing their health or having an attack/defend toggle isn’t their class mechanic, its having multiple commands, taming and the ability to switch between dozens of different pets to fit any situation or preference, with tons of traits and skills revolving around pets to further customize them. I’m pretty sure now that minions don’t aggro things anymore that we won’t get an attack/defend button, but I don’t see why a hp bar would be out of the question.

Yes, it is my mission in life to dump on the build that I know more than 99% of the population about, that I have spent hours and hours testing out little tricks to maximize their use. I want to dump on the build that I have used exclusively since BWEs in PvP, the one build that I’m known for being solid at in PvP. Yeah, it makes total sense that I want to dump on the build that I know more about and can play better than almost everyone who asks to make these terrible “improvements” to.

In reality, I post these because people come up with bad ideas because they don’t think things out, and I don’t want them to ruin the build I love more than any other. I have been posting for months I want HP bar UI, but like Andele said, I don’t want the crappy ranger setup, I want the GW1 style UI that was just a simple set of HP bars and gave a very basic idea of their state. Commands are bad, there is no reason to need them at all, and adding things that aren’t necessary is bad alone. Despite that, it just isn’t how they are supposed to work.

+1 to Riot Inducer. Its also why in general I hate when they are called Pets. Pets aren’t just Ranger companions, but they are specifically meant to be quasi-equal to the ranger, and treated like an actual ally. You try to keep them alive. Minions are just something you form up, use them for their passive benefits, and then laugh maniacally when they die because it benefits you even more. They aren’t pets, they shouldn’t be treated as such.

Bhawb.7408:

Relair.1843:

It really is your mission in life to dump on anyone who wants improvements made to minions. Who cares if they aren’t ranger pets, that prevents us from having a UI with their health on it too for the sake of clarity? Simply showing their health or having an attack/defend toggle isn’t their class mechanic, its having multiple commands, taming and the ability to switch between dozens of different pets to fit any situation or preference, with tons of traits and skills revolving around pets to further customize them. I’m pretty sure now that minions don’t aggro things anymore that we won’t get an attack/defend button, but I don’t see why a hp bar would be out of the question.

Yes, it is my mission in life to dump on the build that I know more than 99% of the population about, that I have spent hours and hours testing out little tricks to maximize their use. I want to dump on the build that I have used exclusively since BWEs in PvP, the one build that I’m known for being solid at in PvP. Yeah, it makes total sense that I want to dump on the build that I know more about and can play better than almost everyone who asks to make these terrible “improvements” to.

In reality, I post these because people come up with bad ideas because they don’t think things out, and I don’t want them to ruin the build I love more than any other. I have been posting for months I want HP bar UI, but like Andele said, I don’t want the crappy ranger setup, I want the GW1 style UI that was just a simple set of HP bars and gave a very basic idea of their state. Commands are bad, there is no reason to need them at all, and adding things that aren’t necessary is bad alone. Despite that, it just isn’t how they are supposed to work.

+1 to Riot Inducer. Its also why in general I hate when they are called Pets. Pets aren’t just Ranger companions, but they are specifically meant to be quasi-equal to the ranger, and treated like an actual ally. You try to keep them alive. Minions are just something you form up, use them for their passive benefits, and then laugh maniacally when they die because it benefits you even more. They aren’t pets, they shouldn’t be treated as such.

Pets and minions denote the same concept and they are essentially used in the same fashion even though their UIs are different.

In Final Fantasy they are called: summons, Eidolons, Espers, Guardian Forces, Avatars, etc.

Just because you want them to be different and you want to be special doesn’t mean that they actually are different or that you are doing anything special.

Ellisande.5218:

Pets and minions denote the same concept and they are essentially used in the same fashion even though their UIs are different.

In Final Fantasy they are called: summons, Eidolons, Espers, Guardian Forces, Avatars, etc.

Just because you want them to be different and you want to be special doesn’t mean that they actually are different or that you are doing anything special.

Except we aren’t playing Final Fantasy, which had a completely different concept for summons than anything in GW.

Pets and minions in GW aren’t the same. They weren’t in GW1, they aren’t in GW2, stop trying to make them the same. Just because you don’t get the conceptual difference doesn’t mean I should have to get stuck with the crappy result. If I wanted pets I’d roll a Ranger, but I don’t, I want minions, so I play Necro.

Minions are like boss trash “adds”, Pets are like AI party members. Completely different concepts, completely different mechanics.

Even though I run nothing but MM on my Necro, I would agree that minions don’t need a “disengage” button like pets do. They’re meant to be mindless undead fodder, held back from just attacking EVERYTHING by the Necromancer’s will alone. They’re already fairly easy to control once you know what their attack triggers are:

1. Minions will always attack what you attack.
2. If you are currently not in combat, and an enemy attacks you, all minions will attack your aggressor.
3. If you are currently not in combat, and an enemy attacks a minion, only that minion will retaliate. The rest will continue to remain passive.

As such, if you really want to avoid a fight, you can just leave your minions behind and keep on running. The minions will eventually leash back to you. Or you can just blow them up because they’re disposable, no matter what your Necro might cry about “hand-raising that minion”.

I agree that it would be handy to be able to see minion health bars on your UI though. I currently have to keep an eye on the minion itself to know when to use skills like Putrid Explosion; it works, but it could be made more convenient.

A minion health bar is definitely a good idea. It doesn’t give the necro any info he couldn’t have already (you can already see your minion health, after all), just makes it more readily apparent. More direct controls, no. Minions are disposable bags of meat that deal damage while they’re around. The chain skills are enough of commands.

P.S. I hate human minion quotes. Charr and Asura are sooo much better.