I did a thorough test as to why many times my pet doesn’t use F2 immediately after I command, and here’s what I found out, and I was shocked by how broken pet AI is, it’s probably more broken than it used to be.
Ok, currently most pet has an AI like this, REGARDLESS of what type of F2 they’re using. If there’s no target or no enemy nearby, the AI is fine, pet will use F2 immediate after I press it. However here comes the real problem. When there’s a foe nearby, when you press F2, what pet will do is to CHARGE to enemy REGARDLESS OF WHAT TYPE OF SKILLS THEY HAVE, and ONLY USE F2 WHEN THE PET’S SKILL RADIUS IS WITHIN THE ENEMY. EVEN DISELCTING TARGET DOESN’T WORK, THE PET WILL CHARGE TO THE NEAREST ENEMY HE CAN SEE AND ONLY USE F2 WHEN HE’S NEAR THAT ENEMY. BOTH COMBAT MODE AND AVOID COMBAT MODE CAN’T FIX THIS PROBLEM.
This broken AI applied to BEAR, WOLF, DOGS AND JUNGLE STALKER TOO. When I try to use my bear to cleanse, what my bear will do is he’ll try to get close to the enemy before he uses his cleanse, WTH? It suppose to be a self support skill, but using this aggressive AI? Does my pet try to cure the foe’s condition not mine!?
To make the matter worse, when I try to fight a thief and start using my wolf’s F2 when the thief enters stealth, what pet does is he’ll rush to the nearest none stealth target and try to use F2 on that random target, so thief can just easily approach me and land a backstab. Many times Ik thief is coming, and switch to wolf and press F2, my pet will just rush forward to thief’s previous stealth location and try to F2 there. This type of AI clearly affects my performance and greatly hinders ranger.
Seriously Anet, WE CAN CONTROL THE PET TO THE LOCATION WE WANT THEM TO USE THE SKILL. WE DON’T NEED YOU TO ADD THAT EXTRA AI THAT DECIDE WHEN PET IS GOING TO USE F2 FOR US! PLEASE JUST REMOVE THAT AI AND LET US JUST USE F2 EXACTLY WHEN WE WANT TO!