Defensive/Assist - Is this accurate?

Acherontia · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:47 pm

So, from what I've read, Aggressive pet stance is being removed, to be replaced with Assist.

Pets set on Assist will only attack what YOU attack.

Defensive pet stance means pets will now only attack what attacks YOU, NOT what you attack.

Is this correct?? I have to keep my pet on Defensive, AND use an extra keypress to send it in, every time I attack something? OR, keep it on Assist, and toggle it Defensive every time I pop afk, or PvP? I'm trying to get a handle on whether this is true. Can anyone confirm this? If it is true, any idea WHY they changed it? I'm not particularly happy about removing Aggressive in the first place, but to me, changing Defensive seems to imply that the pet's aggro table* will be gone--making tanking multiple mobs far more of a chore.

* By aggro table, I also mean the pet's current behavior of attempting to keep aggro on all mobs, for example changing target to chase mobs that aggro you instead, etc.

Anyone on the PTR able to tell me if these changes are right, why they were made if so, and how much different it feels in practice?

Kalliope · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:55 pm

Pets still run in while on defensive if you attack something; just confirmed that. I would think assist works better when you REALLY want control over your pet.

Acherontia · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:15 pm

Oh, awesome. As long as I have one stance to both defend and assist (Defensive still by the sounds of it), I'm fine with losing Aggressive, really--minor inconvenience.

Thanks for clearing that up!

Kalliope · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:28 pm

No problem!

Jelani · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:10 pm

Just have to chime in and say..

I want agressive back! ;_;

Sasrei · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:12 pm

I also.. want aggressive back.. if its all about having more control over my pet I seem to be having less control over my pet.. he apparently doesnt like it when I get hit by boulders so I turn around to see him alll the way on the other side trying to kill a giant.. and he tends to enjoy attacking everything that pops up against him while on defensive, I spend way too much time with the druids/elementals cause my pet thinks its fun to continously attack :lol:

unless they make it so he can spot rogues or what not.. I am not a happy camper. Even with my flares up and what not, its easy for a rogue come in, sap and run out of my range of "hidden" and me thinking.. what the heck just hit me. They can stealth back way way too fast.. my tab abilities arent so sharp yet

Jatbirkkal · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:13 pm

I'm not happy with the loss of Agressive either >_>

It was one of my best ways to get rogues while defending nodes in AV, AB, and guarding the flag in WSG >_>

Yaone · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:42 am

I am going to miss aggressive too =(

Rawr · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:58 am

Blizz needs to stop taking things away to make it easier for the lazy people who apparently need help understanding the basics of controlling a pet. I WANT MY AGGRESSIVE PET BACK! (Mr.Chewybitems is not happy with this at all.) :mrgreen:

Ziarre · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 1:02 am

Rawr wrote:

Blizz needs to stop taking things away to make it easier for the lazy people who apparently need help understanding the basics of controlling a pet. I WANT MY AGGRESSIVE PET BACK! (Mr.Chewybitems is not happy with this at all.) :mrgreen:

Actually, it was meant to make this harder.

SgtMakkie · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 3:14 am

Rawr wrote:

Blizz needs to stop taking things away to make it easier for the lazy people who apparently need help understanding the basics of controlling a pet. I WANT MY AGGRESSIVE PET BACK! (Mr.Chewybitems is not happy with this at all.) :mrgreen:

Yaay finally someone is seeing the light of how Blizzard works. Sad is not it.

Dahniz · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:34 am

Yeah I want Aggressive back too. I hate that they're taking it away and replacing it with... nothing? I mean really all Assist adds is that if you're in a fight and you start attacking something else, your pet will follow your target in a few shots. Really? As is, I have him follow my target immediately. Seems like a useless change to me. Just like Glyph of Lesser Proportion. I don't even have a glyph in that slot anymore because it's useless.

Not happy. Put Aggressive back now before release. Give Defensive that "assist" feature. And give us a glyph worth using like "Glyph of Greater Attention: Your pet will now attack whatever you've Marked."

That's my 2$

Neurotoxinx · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:53 am

^ Replacing/modifying defensive with assist made more sense to me, too.

I can't say I'll miss aggressive too much, but it IS fun stealthing my Dae, placing all of my traps, putting him on aggressive and just behind the traps, and watching a rogue trying to take back a bunker get blown up. rofl

Acherontia · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:22 am

If they replaced Defensive with Assist, you'd need to manually use the attack/passive commands to keep your pet on a different target (ex a healer in arena). As much as I do keybind & use attack/follow, I'd prefer that Defensive stay as-is personally.

I don't know why they can't just add a stance. We already have both stay and move to. The tiny pet bar is outdated : /

Kurenio · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 6:33 am

I honestly say get rid of passive stance who actually uses that thing anyway? and honestly what pet is just gonna sit there while their master/mistress is being killed?

Ziarre · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 7:24 am

Passive can actually be very useful in cases where you need the buff, but sending the pet to attack might kill or despawn it. See: Ozumat third phase.

Sukurachi · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 7:43 am

I've already been finding my pet acting weird these last few weeks...
I generally keep him on defensive stance, and sometimes send him in to a pack that I'll Misdirect to and Multishot. MOST of the time he's good about finishing off whatever I'm currently working on dispatching then switching to my next target, but there are times when he just runs back to me, dragging along a bunch of aggressive mobs that have tagged HIM as their target.

I seem to remember my pet, on Defensive, fighting back when something hit him? or at least, switching to whatever the next mob I'm hitting with arrows is. Lately, it seems he forgets he's in a fight and just wants to snuggle with daddy.

Kalliope · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 10:37 am

I use passive all the time. Sometimes, you just don't want your pet running off at all.

Kurenio · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:04 am

I've never used passive and my pet always seem to live and stay spawned >.> oh well

Acherontia · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:32 am

Sukurachi wrote:

I've already been finding my pet acting weird these last few weeks...
I generally keep him on defensive stance, and sometimes send him in to a pack that I'll Misdirect to and Multishot. MOST of the time he's good about finishing off whatever I'm currently working on dispatching then switching to my next target, but there are times when he just runs back to me, dragging along a bunch of aggressive mobs that have tagged HIM as their target.

I seem to remember my pet, on Defensive, fighting back when something hit him? or at least, switching to whatever the next mob I'm hitting with arrows is. Lately, it seems he forgets he's in a fight and just wants to snuggle with daddy.

It's been happening to me--and I'm fairly sure I remember reading accounts from others--since Cataclysm came out. Sometimes the pet, regardless of "stance," will return to you and reset his position before re-aggroing the mobs you have been shooting. It's pretty infuriating having to wait for the pet to get to you and reset before repositioning, especially if it's a tough pull and they're all pounding on your pet's rear as he runs away >.<

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Defensive/Assist - Is this accurate?

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