the dog issue

[Adonai Shadowblade]

okay, i picked handler as my starting class, the 'double tap' effect of the ability states, in literal terms, "companion returns to the handler and remains by their side. the base dog's "hold" ability grants increased threat and reduces all damage to allies within a few meters, 1st real boss out of the tutorial, bloat king, even if i preset the dog to stay at my side it hurls itself off the ledge into the pit below, and stays there, neatly out of range to grant me the hold buff's effect, and rapidly dying to the dot spamming mobs below, please for the love of god, fix the dog's AI, because at current this boss literally switches off your entire 'class'

[Your Average Joe]

I'm facing the exact same issue. The dog wouldn't stop committing kamikaze attacks into the canals below, no matter what command I gave. I thought of just fighting the fight below, but the mob spawn is basically endless, and eventually overwhelmed me. Still thinking of a way to get pass this boss :/.

[Adonai Shadowblade]

Originally posted by Your Average Joe:

I'm facing the exact same issue. The dog wouldn't stop committing kamikaze attacks into the canals below, no matter what command I gave. I thought of just fighting the fight below, but the mob spawn is basically endless, and eventually overwhelmed me. Still thinking of a way to get pass this boss :/.

EXACTLY no matter how good my aim is, the fact that i have to keep my nose in the sky to hit the flighty little orb to do reasonable damage risks hurtling myself off the ledge, or just face tanking damage, repeatedly, and in a souls-like game, you should not be trading damage unless you're doing large percentages per hit

[Ashar]

its nice having a doggy companion, but sticking with hunter for now, ive heard the do can be a bit suicidal too since it doesnt have much hp, and just stands in danger without moving.

[Torf.toen]

So anyone got a tip for this bossifight or is the handler class just in general not aligned with some encounter designs in this game

[Siracco]

Originally posted by Adonai Shadowblade:

okay, i picked handler as my starting class, the 'double tap' effect of the ability states, in literal terms, "companion returns to the handler and remains by their side. the base dog's "hold" ability grants increased threat and reduces all damage to allies within a few meters, 1st real boss out of the tutorial, bloat king, even if i preset the dog to stay at my side it hurls itself off the ledge into the pit below, and stays there, neatly out of range to grant me the hold buff's effect, and rapidly dying to the dot spamming mobs below, please for the love of god, fix the dog's AI, because at current this boss literally switches off your entire 'class'

I haven't had my dog yeet itself off of a cliff yet but it doesn't see to consistently stay by my side. I feel like they should fix it so that the dog only attacks things within range of it's passive buffs to you when using stand by me. I could be doing it wrong though need to do some more testing battles get chaotic and its hard to tell

[Karkarov]

I mean you need to read what the classes say and understand to a point this is a co op game. Yes you can solo, but the handler is called out as a support class. If you want to play solo you probably shouldn't pick it as your first class as it really does better in co op.

[Helelo]

Originally posted by Karkarov:

I mean you need to read what the classes say and understand to a point this is a co op game. Yes you can solo, but the handler is called out as a support class. If you want to play solo you probably shouldn't pick it as your first class as it really does better in co op.

How is this relevant to what the OP is saying? The game being coop oriented has nothing to do with the dog's AI being garbage
Also, Handler is a very good solo class, what are you on about? It can revive AND tank the mobs for you, it's especially useful when you are alone

All these dumb takes on the forum I swear to god I'm losing IQ points everytime I open a thread

[LargeDudePicksLocks]

You should be using the dog for his Howl buff in that fight, but yeah in general one of the trade-offs to always having a companion to draw aggro is that it doesn't help against flying enemies. My buddy HATED that fight because he was playing handler, it's just not a good class for it (I think it's a pretty fun fight once you understand it though). I'm sure there will be some fights where Handler almost trivializes it though, so I'm sure it will balance out.

[Siracco]

Originally posted by Helelo:

Originally posted by Karkarov:

I mean you need to read what the classes say and understand to a point this is a co op game. Yes you can solo, but the handler is called out as a support class. If you want to play solo you probably shouldn't pick it as your first class as it really does better in co op.

How is this relevant to what the OP is saying? The game being coop oriented has nothing to do with the dog's AI being garbage
Also, Handler is a very good solo class, what are you on about? It can revive AND tank the mobs for you, it's especially useful when you are alone

I was gonna say something similar. Also the Handler is a highly recommended beginner class because of the dog companion. He's very helpful and comes with lots of benefits. All OP is requesting is that they fix it's AI as even though it's a support class. If you have a setting to make the dog stay next to you and it doesn't stay next to you something is wrong.

[Adonai Shadowblade]

Originally posted by monsterwhites:

Originally posted by Helelo:

How is this relevant to what the OP is saying? The game being coop oriented has nothing to do with the dog's AI being garbage
Also, Handler is a very good solo class, what are you on about? It can revive AND tank the mobs for you, it's especially useful when you are alone

I was gonna say something similar. Also the Handler is a highly recommended beginner class because of the dog companion. He's very helpful and comes with lots of benefits. All OP is requesting is that they fix it's AI as even though it's a support class. If you have a setting to make the dog stay next to you and it doesn't stay next to you something is wrong.

my issue is three fold really,
1-the dog's AI seems a little broken, as does it's ability to interact with things,
2-the threat generation just doesn't seem to work at times, i've popped the ability, sent the dog in first, but the instant i pulled the trigger EVERYTHING turned and attacked me,
3-the Bloat King's mechanics and arena are just...bad to me, the arena is roughly broken up into four quadrants, separated by pathways that require repeatedly using the ledge jump mechanic, which for me has been a bit spotty at best, the dog has never followed me over a jump, or up a ladder, it always teleports after a few seconds of no combat, if you fall you have i think 3 or 4 ladders to get back up, BUT the swarms of mobs below can and will rapidly melt you if you land to close, which is what always happens to my dog once it's down there. compound the fact that i can already tell the gimmick is supposed to be changing quadrants regularly to avoid the little flying orbs' bolts and i frequently lose the dog's benefits, even if it is holding it's own in the pit

[Grimzy]

Tbh granted the AI could be better but so far did not encounter really any problems with controlling the dog.

I had a difficulty adjusting to the tap / hold / double tap commands, but the dog did do what I commanded. It takes a lot getting used to.
There is also a trait to increase summons HP which I think works on the doggie aswel? Not sure though.
The dog itself is meant as a "relief" option for a very short moment. If you are expecting it to hold aggro like a tank so you can just mow the mobs down with ease, thats not how it works.

[Adonai Shadowblade]

Originally posted by Grimzy:

Tbh granted the AI could be better but so far did not encounter really any problems with controlling the dog.

I had a difficulty adjusting to the tap / hold / double tap commands, but the dog did do what I commanded. It takes a lot getting used to.
There is also a trait to increase summons HP which I think works on the doggie aswel? Not sure though.
The dog itself is meant as a "relief" option for a very short moment. If you are expecting it to hold aggro like a tank so you can just mow the mobs down with ease, thats not how it works.

oh im absolutely NOT expecting it to hold it's own, infact i channeled some frustration from earlier today and just unalived the boss im referencing, gotta love the benefits of sitting it down and coming back later, no, my issue with the AI is how easily it gets separated from me in places like that boss' arena, and just cant get back to me, and/or cant keep pace with how fast i HAVE to move, so i would quickly lose the hold ability's benefits, i just think the dog's ai and capabilities as an ai could do with a once over and tuneup, it's a new game, hiccups exist, i know that, and i'd rather it get addressed before day one full release, than day one roll around and hundreds of prospective Handlers just get frustrated like i did, and review bomb the game instead of what i did by coming here to make it a public knowledge of 'hey i had this issue, and apparently so have a few others,'