Problems controlling my demons.

[Isrozzis]

From what i've heard about lock pets, specifically the fel gaurd, is that they will attack anything in their range. i dunno about the other pets, but if the felgaurds intercept thing, i think pursuit, is on auto cast, it feels compelled to use it if there is anything within range for it to charge. So that cc'd mob over there, its gonna get charged.

As for the other pets, i have no idea

[Agallochh]

From what i've heard about lock pets, specifically the fel gaurd, is that they will attack anything in their range. i dunno about the other pets, but if the felgaurds intercept thing, i think pursuit, is on auto cast, it feels compelled to use it if there is anything within range for it to charge. So that cc'd mob over there, its gonna get charged.

As for the other pets, i have no idea

Simple solution; Take pursuit off auto-cast. Turn it back on when CC isn't being used.

[ohcray]

What works great for me is putting my pet on passive, and binding the Attack to mousewheel-up. That way I can fear, switch targets, do my initial dot(s), and mousewheel up for go time. It's faster than CTRL+1. If threat is an issue, I'll send him in first and then dot. For the Felguard, on AOE/Felstorm attacks, he'll spin back to me when the initial target is dead, so there's a little bit of tab/mousewheel-up dance that you have to do to keep him in the trash mob pile. But I've never had a problem with him attacking a cc'd mob, unless I accidentally target the mob and mousewheel up.

[Dethh]

Most of the time when I summon a demon he is on aggressive by default. This will cause him to act ...well aggressive. You can set him to passive and make a macro to attack your main target,focus etc. If you have him on defensive for example and cc a mob he will attack that target possibly breaking the CC.

@ Agallochh, There was a blue post awhile back stating pet damage did not break shields in that encounter. Originally it did but was hotfixed since it wasn't intended.

---------- Post added 2011-02-02 at 11:57 PM ----------

From what i've heard about lock pets, specifically the fel gaurd, is that they will attack anything in their range. i dunno about the other pets, but if the felgaurds intercept thing, i think pursuit, is on auto cast, it feels compelled to use it if there is anything within range for it to charge. So that cc'd mob over there, its gonna get charged.

As for the other pets, i have no idea

Like I said the only time I have ever encountered this problem is when my pet is on aggressive (which isn't on pet bar by default?) anyway never had a problem with him in any other way.

[Raineva]

Hi! I have had similar problems with my Felguard in raids as well. I've found that simply turning pursuit off of auto will keep him from attacking random targets...the reason he switches targets is because pursuit requires a range...he switches to an appropriate target and charges them.

As far as your pets charging your cc targets as you cast the spell, I've found that annoying on all my pets. Either be prepared to call them back as you complete the cast, or put them on passive and send them in yourself. I'm hoping blizzard will add something to these cc spells that makes them not trigger your pet to attack :-P

For pets with 1 attack (like the imp's fireball) you can macro their ability to all of your spells and just leave them on passive. This means they will always and ONLY attack your target and only when you cast a spell they are macro'd to. This is useful for fights like Omnitron Defense System where target switching needs to be fast and accurate.

[Agallochh]

@ Agallochh, There was a blue post awhile back stating pet damage did not break shields in that encounter. Originally it did but was hotfixed since it wasn't intended.

Eh, I guess I just have a habit of doing it cause of the first few weeks. I like my pet to assist me regardless in most situations.

[Phage0070]

Three big issues regarding pet control exist in my experience:

Fear: This isn't considered a CC by the pet AI and they will merrily continue attacking and break the fear.

Felguard Intercept: Its tempting to leave this on auto-cast for quick closing at the start of a fight, but midway through the fight the pet will attempt to use the ability again. Since the ability has a minimum range this will require targeting a mob that it isn't currently attacking, charging off in the middle of a fight. What mob will possibly be in combat yet not within 8 yards of the tank?

A feared target of course, which doesn't count as CCed. And its likely sitting next to a sheep or other break-on-damage CC which will release when the felguard cleaves this new target. Thats right... the felguard on Defensive will actually peel off to a new target it has charged on its own initiative. It will do this on CCed targets even while on Passive.

Imp Burning Ember effect: This problem is a result of the combined interaction of a talent, pet AI, mob AI, and pet design. A destruction warlock will have the talent "Burning Embers" which puts up a DoT which ticks for 15% of the damage of a Soul Fire or Im's Fire Bolt; obviously this mainly serves to add a DoT effect to your Imp's attacks. However this puts the Imp into the worst possible position for a pet with regard to CC.

This talent turns the Imp into a ranged pet with a cast direct damage spell and 7 second DoT. Lets say there are multiple ranged targets CCed with something that breaks on damage, and the CC drops long enough for the target to let off an instant AoE before the CC is applied once more. A normal melee pet on defensive would immediately target the mob, take a few steps toward it, and then ignore the target once the new CC effect was applied. The Imp on the other hand would immediately start casting against the new threat and completely ignore the CC effect going up. Stop casting? Nah, just fire that shot and break that CC like a champ! Not only that but it now has a 7 second DoT applied preventing it from being controlled again.

DoTs being applied by pets is an undesirable aspect with regard to CC, but one that I think is necessary for variety in the game. However I don't think that it is necessary for a ranged pet which makes it all the harder to control. At the very least this decision should be available to hunters rather than to warlocks which are nearly forced to use a specific pet for a given spec. I also don't think that the control of a caster-pet provided by the AI is adequate considering the repercussions to mob control.

If I was redesigning things I would make it so pets would cancel casting on CCed mobs, and that travel time on ranged pet abilities was removed. DoTs for warlock pets should be restricted to melee pets only, perhaps by giving the Voidwalker's Torment ability a DoT aspect. (Apeaking of which the voidwalker really needs a range on that ability and the ability to cast it while moving. The infrequency which it can get the ability off is infuriating.)

[Agallochh]

Three big issues regarding pet control exist in my experience:

Fear: This isn't considered a CC by the pet AI and they will merrily continue attacking and break the fear.

Felguard Intercept: Its tempting to leave this on auto-cast for quick closing at the start of a fight, but midway through the fight the pet will attempt to use the ability again. Since the ability has a minimum range this will require targeting a mob that it isn't currently attacking, charging off in the middle of a fight. What mob will possibly be in combat yet not within 8 yards of the tank?

A feared target of course, which doesn't count as CCed. And its likely sitting next to a sheep or other break-on-damage CC which will release when the felguard cleaves this new target. Thats right... the felguard on Defensive will actually peel off to a new target it has charged on its own initiative. It will do this on CCed targets even while on Passive.

Imp Burning Ember effect: This problem is a result of the combined interaction of a talent, pet AI, mob AI, and pet design. A destruction warlock will have the talent "Burning Embers" which puts up a DoT which ticks for 15% of the damage of a Soul Fire or Im's Fire Bolt; obviously this mainly serves to add a DoT effect to your Imp's attacks. However this puts the Imp into the worst possible position for a pet with regard to CC.

This talent turns the Imp into a ranged pet with a cast direct damage spell and 7 second DoT. Lets say there are multiple ranged targets CCed with something that breaks on damage, and the CC drops long enough for the target to let off an instant AoE before the CC is applied once more. A normal melee pet on defensive would immediately target the mob, take a few steps toward it, and then ignore the target once the new CC effect was applied. The Imp on the other hand would immediately start casting against the new threat and completely ignore the CC effect going up. Stop casting? Nah, just fire that shot and break that CC like a champ! Not only that but it now has a 7 second DoT applied preventing it from being controlled again.

DoTs being applied by pets is an undesirable aspect with regard to CC, but one that I think is necessary for variety in the game. However I don't think that it is necessary for a ranged pet which makes it all the harder to control. At the very least this decision should be available to hunters rather than to warlocks which are nearly forced to use a specific pet for a given spec. I also don't think that the control of a caster-pet provided by the AI is adequate considering the repercussions to mob control.

You understand that DoT's without direct damage upon application (Immo) can be put on a fear target and won't break the fear? That's right, periodic damage won't break fear. That's why I corr/bane of havoc on my fear target. You can even immo before fearing.

[Phage0070]

You understand that DoT's without direct damage upon application (Immo) can be put on a fear target and won't break the fear? That's right, periodic damage won't break fear. That's why I corr/bane of havoc on my fear target. You can even immo before fearing.

DoT damage will break Fear. There is a damage threshold, but if you had ever played Affliction you would see that it will break prematurely anyway.

But again, the main issue is with breaking things like sheep or ice block which any amount of damage will suffice.

[Bor de Wolf]

I had this same problem with my demons.
I like to play affliction but guild asked me to go destruction (I think I switch back for it does not feel good to me0
To solve this problem I made some macro's and I keep my pet on passive all the time.

I set up my CC mob with shift fear so I get my focus on casting ( replace fear with banish and it does the same)
#showtooltip Fear
/focus [mod:shift]
/clearfocus [noexists]
/target [nomod] focus
/clearfocus [mod: ctrl]
/cast Fear
/targetlasttarget

My demon may attack this mob for I am attacking it as well. (replace Immolate with any spell you want it on and you don't use very often so your demon can keep casting)
#showtooltip Immolate
/cast Immolate
/petattack [@target]

After target is down your pet will be inactive.
Succubus will not seduce any CC'd mob, imp does only attack the main target and same goes for your other demons.
Make sure they don't use any AoE damage spells in a close space or close to a CC'd mob and switch off intercept from fel guard.
And this also helps in BLACKWING DESCENT- OMNITRON DEFENSE SYSTEM

[Deleted]

Can't you just macro pet attack on one of Your base spells. Like shadow bolt?

Spamming pet attack constantly resets the pet's swing/cast timer, so it ends up not doing anything.

[Mix]

the felguard will use pursuit whenever it is off cd. Even if this means he is charging a cc. I keep mine on passive, send him to attack one target...and he will charge my fear, the sheep...anything in the right range..then proceed to the target i told him to attack in the first place.

[Tamsus]

It's part of the class to have to passive on Fears/CC and then pet attack manually or with a macro on every target. I got yelled at a couple of times and I exclaimed, "Rivinshokin likes tanking."