Animal Whispering even worth it?

[Lerrasien]

I like the buffs and everything that the animals can give, but if I want the buffs, I have to risk not getting experience for kills if the animals kill something... Which happens quite a bit when Billy Jean and Major decide to start to crit... Do they plan on making it so companions don't steal experience when killing or is it just going to be explained away as "mechanics of the game" ?

[Ommamar]

The perk Vengeful bond almost makes me not want to get another pet for Jodie Bell. 50% more critical chance plus 2 AP is stronger then any off the buffs I have found from the pet companions. I have heard it is bugged though and I kind of agree as it only seems to work a third of the time (I verify by whether I get the 2 extra AP) if it is fixed in a patch it would be almost better to sacrifice a pet to get the buff.

[Lerrasien]

Originally posted by ☩ Nurse With Wound ☩:

Its kinda cheezy spaming whisper on everyone an having a animal army >.< I have yet to see a pet kill anything.. If thats an issue for you.. focus kill anything near the pet itself.. mostly it will wound it on its turn, you finish it up.. =)

Kinda hard to do when they cross the field and kill them from full HP in a single turn, my guy.

[Lerrasien]

Originally posted by snuggleform:

Originally posted by Lerrasien:

Trust me, I know they're stronger. The issue isn't their strength. The issue is that due to their overwhelming strength, they end up killing at least half of the enemies in any given fight.

You're doing it wrong then. Pets kill maybe 1/20 enemies for me. Alpha strike harder.

Doesn't really have anything to do with what I'm doing. I can't control them and they have a habit of crossing the map and killing things in a couple of hits from full HP.

[talemore]

It's the scaling, isn't it. The pets gets stronger because the villains getting stronger and the pets getting stronger than the villains. There's no saying that you can't defeat the game with only unique animals but it's a choice made and exp isn't a thing because every time you level up you make the game harder for yourself and having the animals killing everything for you make the game easier

[Sputnik]

As long as you're progressing and not getting destroyed in fights I can't see how this is a bad thing. I mean the entire goal of the combat parts of the game is to win, and it sounds like the pets are doing just that for you. Plus scaling is a thing in encounters so you really shouldn't have any issues being under leveled there. To me it sounds like you found a decent build but just don't enjoy it, maybe try another?

[Moffin Bovin]

You only need 3 points in animal whisperer to get Animal Training, and it stacks with each character that has it. Your pets can get pretty strong.

[Khaten]

Originally posted by Lerrasien:

I like the buffs and everything that the animals can give, but if I want the buffs, I have to risk not getting experience for kills if the animals kill something... Which happens quite a bit when Billy Jean and Major decide to start to crit... Do they plan on making it so companions don't steal experience when killing or is it just going to be explained away as "mechanics of the game" ?

What difficulty level are you playing on? Your experience doesn't mirror anything I've experienced in this game regarding pets. On SJ difficulty, I've had 4 pets in one of my play throughs and they would rarely kill 1 trash mob if they all ganked it. (with perks)

The two exceptions are the bison and the honey badger. Assuming everything isn't dead after round 1.

So, it might have to do with the difficulty level you're playing on.

[WarpGuN]

an angry rabbit can change the fight in your favor. 3 bite = dead enemy

[AntiGrav1ty]

Not getting any XP if deployables or pets kill a mob is bad game design in my opinion. Not sure why they decided to do that. It disincentivizes their use and it makes no sense when kills with the car or with grenades etc. give full experience. They don't get many kills on supreme jerk difficuIty but I still actively avoid using them because I can't be bothered to time last hits every time to get the experience.

[Lerrasien]

Originally posted by BOT Harry:

Not getting any XP if deployables or pets kill a mob is bad game design in my opinion. Not sure why they decided to do that. It disincentivizes their use and it makes no sense when kills with the car or with grenades etc. give full experience. They don't get many kills on supreme jerk difficuIty but I still actively avoid using them because I can't be bothered to time last hits every time to get the experience.

Agreed. I was unaware that the deployables sucked up xp as well, though. I assumed since they were a blue health bar rather than yellow, that I'd still gotten it. Never bothered to check.

[Fatty McBoomBoom]

This game is very very easy on anything other than Supreme Jerk, or some will say its easy then.

If you are not playing on SJ i suggest you just do what's fun, because you're missing the challenge to begin with.

If you ARE playing on SJ, i'm confused why you are even here asking such questions. you would understand the worth.

[sundog005]

I had the same thought sir....worthless skill other than the *Cutesy Factor* after reading this i ditched it with the savegame editor, the game is too easy already I don't need animals killing eveything for me not to mention I kind of cringe at putting Cats and Dogs in a gunfight....seems cruel

edit: was a lot better in WL2 when they just gave you a stat boost or buff

[Radiac]

I did most of my runs with just the Irv Clone and Maj. Tomcat and I found that even they tend to get in the way and do annoying things often enough that I think I'd be better off without them. As such I don't use Animal Whisperer at all.

[Andination]

that damn parrot saved my ass more than once

[Wolfen]

Originally posted by PrototypeElvis~:

i ditched it with the savegame editor

You could also ditch it through retraining the character in your Ranger HQ instead of using a Savegame Editor.