Pets / Mercs and the Tracking Skill

Option 2 seems the most practical and would serve the purpose or having pets/merc on or off the track windows.

If you are working on track, would it be possible to add track sorting to bards and druids (like rangers have). The track window as is isnt very user friendly for both those class especially if they buy extended tracking (way too many mob shows on the widow). Could be either a AA (track mastery lets say) or just accross the board to all tracking classes.
It been asked many time before and would be greathly appreciated. This change would be MUCH more appreciated than a merc/pet option given a choice between the feature.

The obvious question: who would ever want to track mercs or pets? The track window in places like Shard's Landing is completely trashed by swarm/temp pets as long as there is at least several mages, necros or beastlords doing quests. I don't think you need any option for pets and mercs at all. Just make them completely invisible to track. Oh and campfires/banners too.

Problem solved?

It seems like the functional difference betwen Option 1 and Option 2 is that Option 1 would allow you to track mercs and/or pets from your own group if you wished to do so. I wouldn't have any use for that capability, so Option 2 would be fine with me.

We continue to want that to be a ranger only ability at this time.

I am in complete agreement. What's the point of ever wanting to track a merc or a pet? I can't for the life of me understand why they need to show, or why anyone would want them to. Please create a toggle switch for this, and make it usable by druids and bards also. Thanks.

You bring us an expansion full of aliens, and that somehow fits into the game lore. But fixing the UI to be functional does not.

Dislike.

Option 2 is ideal for me.

However, I don't care if this gets done, at all.

Option 2 works and seems easier.

I can think of some situations. I am starting a mission and the others are AFK and going to join in a bit. They are new and have no clue where to go. I don't want to waste time so I park my pet somewhere and do the preliminary running around. When the rest of them get there Druid/Bard can track to pet for set up area.

Can we just have an option to hide pets all together? I am not a pet class, and do not wish to even see the lil buggers, especially on raids, would be nice to hide them, kinda like /hidecorpses all command....

OMG YES!!!

Please, for the love of Norrath give an option to hide pets. On raids, the lag from swarm pets is just horrendous!

Also, if extended to mercs, it would really help lag for folks moving through the guild lobby.

I like Option 1. It allows a very flexible tracking.

That sounds like a very improbable situation. If they don't even know how to use maps (otherwise you could just tell them to look where you are on the map before you start and come there) - then they wouldn't know how to use track either. Not to mention that they would have to be a tracker class in the first place. And the mission would need to be of a specific type, with a non-ZI gathering point and some running to do. A very, very improbable situation.

IMO just eliminate pets, mercs, banners, campfires from tracking altogether. Less data, less coding, win all around.

It really boggles the mind how you guys continue to make these types of decisions when no one there plays the game anymore. You can't be aware of how ridiculous it is scanning through hundreds of mobs looking for something or you wouldn't have that mindset. It's actually physically painful to the eyes.

Druid/Bard track sorting is a quality of [real] life change that's well beyond past due.

First allow me to say: Praise Baby Jebus!!

Although I would say go with Option 2, because it seems to be the more streamlined implementation, I honestly don't care which option happens. As long as I gain the ability to filter out all player-related trackspam, then its all good. I wish to be able to filter out everything that is not NPC. Fully filtered, I do not wish to see players, or pets, or mercs, or familiars, or campfires, or banners on the track list. I want to see mobs. Just mobs. Nothing but mobs. Whatever you gotta do to make that type of filtering a reality works for me

Please and thank you!


ps. Track sorting 4TW. Call it a design decision all you like, but its a bad decision to which the dev team has vehemently clung for far too many years.

pss. Unrelated: Indoor spellcasting restrictions 4TL. See above.

You're welcome to play a non-tracking class. Then you won't have this awful problem.

Option 2 looks like the easiest and does what most Trackers want

I don't know which of those two options.

But one thing I would ask (and it's probably being looked into already) is whether one of these options (or something else) would work similarly for non track players ... specifically whether laying the groundwork for track not being able to see mercs/pets means that code can be used to help set up something so regular players don't see mercs/pets visually.

Option 2, is fine. If I need to track a group member's merc, or pet, I can use the F-keys to target them to get the name or look in the group window and track them that way. No need for extra toggles to just see group ones.

As far as others wanting models toggle-able, group only would be good. Also, even being able to turn them into stick figures would help alot or any single non-obtrusive model. On - Group Only - Off drop down and Alternate model checkbox in Options would be great.

Yther Ore.