Warlock Pet vs Hunter Pet AI? (AKA My Felhunter is Stupid)

[Acherontia]

Recently re-rolled a warlock (having deleted my first), since I found my palaladin to be exceptionally boring. I am enjoying it thus far, with one problem: my warlock pets are really, really stupid, or at least seem to be. I was sapped, and I could see the rogue capping the Farm flag in front of me; spammed Pet Attack, pet simply stood there staring. Tried tapping follow and then petattack, nothing. Pet was not sapped, distracted, etc.

On other occasions the pet runs back to me midfight. Sometimes, it continues to run back and attack dotted targets even after /follow's been hit, although I think that has to do with when Assist is toggled (same as the poor AI in this situation on Hunter pets). The pathing also seems singularly bad, with the pet sometimes unable to navigate a simple ramp, instead standing and staring blankly down at the enemy to the side of it.

My question is, has anyone here who has played both a Warlock and a Hunter noticed a difference in pet AI? Is there a difference? Or do they use the same AI, and my particular felhunter is just dumb as bricks?

Thanks!

[Galaxy]

My lock is about 45ish, but my fiance rolls lock as his main. So, I can speak to a discussion we recently had.

So I'm in Dragon Soul, doing Death Wing, and Bliss was like "Durrrr". While this isn't unusual for Bliss, I got frustrated b/c I had to continually dismiss her and call her throughout the fight b/c she simply wouldn't attack anything no matter what I did. I finally tried calling Tempest (Skoll) and he did the same thing.

This caused me to vent to my fiance who started laughing. "You didn't notice the bugs before?"

I went silent.

"Yeah, I have to resummon all the time that fight, and the spine. It's like my pet is afraid of Death Wing or something."

Bliss? Afraid of DW? I can totally buy that.

We then took to Serpentshrine Cavern for a set of shoulders I have my heart set on for xmog. His giant blueberry (Mr. Blueberry!) did a decent job OTing for Peppermint (white NR fuzzy worm). However, the Mr. Blueberry didn't really like dealing with multiple targets. Where Peppermint would change targets and taunt to keep the mob together (when not bugging and returning to me WITH the mob b/c Mr. Blueberry wasn't willing to round 'em up when Peppermint forgot what he was doing), Mr. Blueberry was great at holding ONE target. Maybe two. Mostly ONE. Oh, and Peppermint could taunt off him like a boss.

As for my experience, my big fel guy just spins around a lot whacking whatever happens to be in his path; critters included. I'm gonna go play my lock and pay attention, I think. You have me curious. I'll also ask my fiance when he gets home from work late tonight about it.

[Acherontia]

My lock is about 45ish, but my fiance rolls lock as his main. So, I can speak to a discussion we recently had.

So I'm in Dragon Soul, doing Death Wing, and Bliss was like "Durrrr". While this isn't unusual for Bliss, I got frustrated b/c I had to continually dismiss her and call her throughout the fight b/c she simply wouldn't attack anything no matter what I did. I finally tried calling Tempest (Skoll) and he did the same thing.

On the Deathwing fight, pets often get "stuck" on rocks. I don't know why. Tap Follow and they should teleport to your side & be useable again... it's frigging infuriating as BM, when you don't immediately your pet (so much of your damage) in the huge crowd of effects just... standing there >.>

Also, what is Blueberry? I must know

[GormanGhaste]

what is Blueberry? I must know

common slang term for void walkers

[Kalliope]

I hadn't noticed any differences in pet AI with mine, but then, my lock isn't max level either.

*hugs Hector* If it wasn't for pet AI weirdness on occasion, I don't think I would have bonded with this guy quite so much.

I actually kind of wish my lock's pets had issues or something to make them distinguishable; I really am not attached to them.

[Acherontia]

Ha, I don't wish mine had these issues--honestly, I feel like booting him right back into the Twisting Nether and dragging another one out. You know, to teach him a lesson. >.> I can't count the number of times I've mounted up with him next to me, and ridden away a bit, and dismounted to fight only to find that he's despawned off by a river somewhere, or something!

Thanks GormanGhaste, I had no idea!

[Finduilas]

I feel like you Acherontia, I recently brought my warlock from out in the middle of the 70s to 85 and did lots of questing and pvp. I always told my fiance how stupid my felguard was and he was laughing at me. But being used to pvp on my different hunters I noticed my warlock pet to be incredibly stupid. He likes to hit things in traps or sap, does take weird ways before attacking and simply seems to be stupid. When I send him to attack an enemy he likes to run in with detours (meaning he runs almost a circle to get to the target) instead of charging straight, he likes to bug out on the flags in Arathi (when running at a target behind the flag he likes to get stuck in the flag, only dismissing and resummon works), although I noticed this bug on my hunters' pets too. If I have dots on several targets he still runs back to me after the first mob is dead (my hunter pets do it too, but only if I used multishot and nothing else). For tanking jobs I changed back to my Captain Blue Cloud (voidwalker) because he seems much more clever. I'm not as happy with my warlock as I had thought. She reached level 85, but now she's pretty much still sitting around because I'm annoyed most times by the pets.

[Acherontia]

Thank you Finduilas; I guess it's not just me with this problem, then! I'm finding myself really having to watch & micromanage the feldog, moreso than my BM pet, but I guess I'll just have to get used to it >.<

(I love your name for your VW, by the way!)

[Davarra]

what is Blueberry? I must know

common slang term for void walkers

LOL After seeing the Blizzcon costume contest from a few years ago the voidwalker has been "garbage bag" ever since.

[TygerDarkstorm]

The lock pet AI actually has a feature locked into it where your demon is typically going to follow any active Corruption spells ticking or Bane of Doom. I don't PvP for my lock so I can't speak for anything happening there other than that I didn't think you had control over any pet while you're character is technically not in control of themself.

But following a certain active spell is a trait hunter pets have too--hunter pets prefer targets with Serpent Sting running on them. The one I hate most is when I multi-shot on my hunter and my pet kills one target then runs back to me. -_-

I've raided FL and part of DS on my lock and overall I haven't really noticed any major issues. For a short while in FL after they got rid of Aggressive stance my felguard would occasionally just dash off on his own and piss off a group of mobs all on his own, but I haven't noticed any of that in a long time.

[Acherontia]

Ahh, this thread is a bit old, forgot about it!! Yeah, hunter pets on Assist follow Serpent Stinged targets, which I find extremely annoying (I feel that if I tell my pet to attack a target, it should damn well attack it before checking dots).

Anyway, I "replaced" that Felhunter with another one, and have come to the conclusion that the first one was just an idiot. The second one has had no trouble. ENTIRELY in my head, I know, but that's the truth : /