1. #1

    [MoP] Pet Control: from bad to worse!

    Several pet related bugs in combination with a clunky pet control have always been a part of the warlock class and a major downside of our ability to control a minion alongside our character.
    Especially in a pvp environment quick and unfailing pet commands are very important to overcome your opponent and to help your team. Prior to patch 5.0 i was able to combine serveral spells of our different minions (mostly imp or felhunter, rarely succubus and felguard) in 3 macros to control my target and focus target (spell lock, axe toss, seduce), dispell myself or my teammates (singe magic) or activate additional cooldowns (devour magic, whiplash, flee, felstorm). Other players chose to control arena targets 1, 2 and 3 or use mouseover commands in their macros.
    This obligatory part to be succesful as a warlock player has always been a hurdle to new and unseasoned players, but it could be overcome. Mists of Pandaria promised quality of life improvements due to several innovations, for example the new Control Demon button or the ability to get rid of your pet without losing to much damage and utility. But in contrast the situation got much worse comparing to Cataclysm. Let me explain this further:

    1. Control Demon: This new overall pet control ability is completely useless in its current form. Not only are we not allowed to arrange suitable spells ourselves, but in addition pressing the button interrupts spell casting every time.
    2. Grimoire of Sacrifice: Actually a good choice for everyone in pvp, but in praxis both the empowered demons and their spells have different names than their basic counterparts and cannot be activated the same way in macros. So you have to add additinal lines or change your macros every time u skill into GoSac.
    3. Grimoire of Sacrifice: A differentiated use of this ability in combination with temporarily active pets results inevitably in clunky and dull pet control solutions. You cannot include "Control Demon" in pet macros because of interferences when pets are not sacrificed and the act of sacrificing does not dismiss your dead pet for quite a while and blocks the use of "Control Demon" as your own spell.

    Mists of Pandaria comes with good ideas and design intentions regarding warlock pets but they are poorly executed. I always dreamed of several self-composable ability sets comparable to shaman totem calls but they gave us a completly useless button serving as cover-up for our problems. Give us ways to activate the same ability with the same command regardless if our pets are empowered, sacrificed or in their basic form.

    The problems of pet control exist since release but apparently Blizzard is not in the position to improve the situation since many years, they havent even tried it properly. Seems that a specific warlock issue is not worth the effort. Maybe you can spread the word to places where developers actually take notice if you share my views, but if nothing changes i am going to enjoy another challenging and versatile class without profound design flaws: my shadowpriest alt ;-)
    Last edited by luckydevours; 2012-08-30 at 07:02 PM.

  2. #2
    I can live with the list of spells for Command Demon but it should not interrupt the master's casting - it's poorly designed.

    Using Go:Sac in PvP, even with the master assuming a key pet ability, causes us to lose one of our main benefits as a pet class - having our pet respond independently when we are CC'ed or out LOS.

    And what, I am expected to sit there and channel seduce? Seriously.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Kashii View Post
    I can live with the list of spells for Command Demon but it should not interrupt the master's casting - it's poorly designed.
    Should just be the same as if I had a pet use an ability, where it doesn't affect me (doesn't interrupt, off GCD, etc.)

    Quote Originally Posted by Kashii View Post
    Using Go:Sac in PvP, even with the master assuming a key pet ability, causes us to lose one of our main benefits as a pet class - having our pet respond independently when we are CC'ed or out LOS.
    The point (and this the reason macros get so bad with Go:Sac) is that you alternate between using a pet and sacrificing it in PvP to buff yourself. In other words, if you need a pet the idea is you would then resummon and use it.

    Which means you need macros for all your pet abilities AND your Grimoire "pet" abilities, which as the OP noticed has to be put in a macro since Control Demon (the ability which we "should" be using for this) isn't working very well.

  4. #4
    Scarab Lord Grubjuice's Avatar
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    I just wrote four pet macros, two for regular pet abilities and two for supremacy pet abilities.

    Commands demon is a lame spell, but it only takes about 5 minutes to whip up some [pet] macros.

  5. #5
    Command Demon could use an overhaul. Pet Macro capabilities could use an overhaul.

    If it were up to me, it'd be setup like this...

    Command Demon:
    imp - singe magic
    void walker - disarm
    felhunter - spell lock
    succubus - whiplash
    felguard - axe toss

    (Supremacy)
    fel imp - sear magic
    void lord - disarm
    observer - optical blast
    shivarra - fellash
    wrathguard - axe toss

    (Sacrifice)
    imp - singe magic
    void walker - disarm
    felhunter - spell lock
    succubus - whiplash
    felguard - axe/weapon toss
    That way CC would always be preserved and the abilities consistent.

    Note: Sac'ing the succy and getting Seduction is... nonsensical. It NEEDS to be changed to Whiplash.

    ---------- Post added 2012-08-30 at 05:56 PM ----------

    As far as Macro capabilities, check out the post in the appropriate forum:

    http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...s-what-a-mess!

    Or the source thread:
    http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...19589?page=1#7
    Last edited by MastaKwaa; 2012-08-30 at 09:55 PM.

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