Can we get an option to specifically hide other people's familiars?

We can turn off pets AND familiars, but we can't turn off just familiars. Familiars do nothing really, other than to be looked at.

"But dude, just hide pets and familiars"

You're missing the point. If you turn off pets, when someone does something with a pet that is bad, such as sends it to attack a mob it should not have, if you have pets hidden, you can't see it until it is too late.

Yea just go on FV and in the baz like every other person got there banker out. Ok its not every other person but you know what i mean.

Familiars are really buffs (with some being vanity buffs and others being stat buffs) and not pets which makes the problem a little more complex, and I think warrants a little more scrutiny by the devs.

Logically, "most" people will want to use their familiar with the stat buff (ie: Fungal Underbulk), and will keep it up and have "auto-leave" in their keyring to dismiss the visual. However... you can then put up another familiar (without stat buffs) for visual appearances, and which then takes up a separate buff slot. This means that the average player can keep up two "familiar" buffs.

As an example, go into your keyring and click the stat buff familiar (with auto-leave checked on). You get your stat buff on your toon. After you do that, then uncheck auto-leave and click on any of your vanity familiars. It simply will apply a second buff and make that particular familiar visible while you still retain the previous familiar stat buff.

My personal opinion is that vanity familiar buffs should have restrictions to not be used at the same time as the stat familiar buff. This alone can cut down the amount of familiars you see on raids.

The reason I feel this is worth mentioning is because even if the devs manage to separate the pets from the familiars to visually "hide" their models, you will still see their name tags. You have no way to hide pet/familiar name tags even with the existing showname options currently. Unless, I am missing something here, and someone can correct me?

They offer Potions of Familiar's Amnesia in the marketplace and I would think they make a nice buck off that so not sure they would mess with it a tick off all those players who want to see Spot's name

So what I am saying is they sell a service that this would affect so its not likely they would change it

I realized that, too, during my reply.

However, you can already hide players that also spent money on armor ornaments. You can also set armor viewing options as well. You don't get to see those when you hide them - except for weapons. Or what about people that still use old models? So in a certain light, a lot of the vanity things people purchase in the marketplace anyway is really for themselves more than anyone else when you think about it.

On that same note, I don't think many folks even see others' nimbuses for that same reason either - with lots of us setting particles to low or off.

No, people paid good money to get those specifically for the appearance, you shouldn't be able to block them.

/s

We have familiars banned on raids which solves the raid issue with it.

I'd love to be able to block familiars, mounts and some illusions that I feel look out of place in some EQ zones.

All non-combat zones should automatically dispel familiars, mounts, and illusions...and prevent you from casting them.

There's zero reason to have any of that stuff going when you're just standing around to get some buffs.

Seems like a social problem rather than a technical problem. Just send a tell, hey, hide your familiar. Here's how you do it.

"I like the familiar, it's cute and cuddly, or maybe I just simply don't care that you don't like it. Stare at this stupid ogre/cat/tree/sprite/whatever all day and feel my spite"

Now multiply that by however many people you play with.

So I tried this in a similar situation. Someone had sat down next to magus in lobby, which is no big deal, but their very large merc was right on top of the magus. And it was totally blocking the magus making it difficult to click on her.

So after 3 weeks of this merc being on 24/7 and blocking I sent them an email asking them to please move themselves or the merc. No response. There was a patch in game which removed the player so that solved it for 2 or 3 days when they popped up again with the merc again blocking the magus. I asked them again. Pointing out you can sit anywhere and soak up the mgb and I did not care how long they wanted to stay logged in just sitting there but please don't block other players.

A few days after that they then moved to the other side of the magus but merc was again was blocking her.

So now we are 3 MONTHS along and this player has been sitting right next to the magus, thru patches, server interrupts etc. Logs back in and sits in the same place. This is not the place you wind up when exiting the guild hall but they are sitting right there for some unknown purpose.

Figuring they were likely a free account and not getting my emails, I wrote it off. But I finally get a response telling me to shove off and to use the F10 key if I was so desperate.

Yep good neighbors. So final update, its now 3 weeks past the last email and while the player stayed in that spot for another 2 or 3 days they apparently no longer plays - haven't seen them on at all.

Place a ticket with customer support, and they will move them for you if they're impeding access to something. I'm sure there are consequences to repeat offenses that would deter them from standing there. However, I'd likewise recommend simply using alternative targeting options in that scenario as well. Making the target nearest NPC (F8 key) command more accessible on your keyboard or via a mouse button can do wonders for you once you get used to using it, and afterwards, you'd also likely consider your issue to be trivial. Similarly, I find setting a key to cycle through nearest NPCs can make your gameplay much more efficient as well.

While I thank you for your input this is not a problem or scenario that needs further suggestions as it is no longer an issue as I stated.

The moral of this story is that "just sending a tell" (what I quoted) will not always work well.

This may be why he said they are no longer playing

Also, if you turn off pets you cannot see your own pet!

We need more options like:
Hide all pets
Hide all pets except mine
Hide all pets except group
Hide all pets except raid
Don't hide pets

LOOOK AT MY PRETTY FAMILIAR

LOOK AT IT

Players are much faster on mounts.

How exactly would blocking illusions improve game performance?

Your suggestion doesn't make the game better in anyway but does make it worse in some.

yeah there's no reason to run around fast on my mount in non combat, right.

I personally value the buff slot the familiar takes up than I do an underbulk or mushroom following me around. Having the two buffs and being able to click the familiar buff icon off but still get the benefits is good for me. I am concerned for those that would rather have that buff slot be a familiar than an actual buff.

But that is me.

Why the hell do you need a mount in the Lobby?
Why the hell do you need familiars in the Lobby?
Why the hell do you need to illusion yourself (or others) into large forms that block merchants, bankers and even the guildhall door in the Lobby?

The answer is...you don't. Absolutely NONE of that crap is necessary in zones like the Lobby or even PoK where you'd just standing around for buffs or trying to sell/bank/tradeskill. I lost count a long time ago of how often I tried to use the small bank in PoK, only to have to dance around and find a spot where I can click him because some idiot is AFK in front of him, sitting on some huge mount that takes up the entire room.

There is ZERO need for any of that in a non-combat zone. Not having any of that stuff block anything...that's what makes the game better.