I can't find the post, but I remember at some point on Varsoon, there was an update saying they had added dials to tune up and down pet damage. However, it doesn't seem like we've actually used them yet. Pets are currently doing WAY too much damage in terms of the summoner's total damage. It's up to 40% of their damage sometimes. Pets are passive damage. Pressing Pet Attack should not == 40% of overall damage. If you think about it in those terms, it's similar to Evade Blame, Rogue O-Stance, or any other passive form of damage that has been nerfed over time. Generally, I feel like we should turn down the damage nob on pets. Personally, I feel like pet damage should be halved, where pets ended up being like 15-20% of summoner damage, and then give a bit of a boost to summoner's other abilities. At that point, at least pressing buttons would matter more. I know that other classes definitely have issues and probably need some buffs, but it still wouldn't change this fundamental problem in the effectiveness of pets being too too high. If you agree, please vote this up, and maybe we can get devs to check this out.
Maybe include some parses showing examples of what you think the problem is. Here is a parse of my Necro doing 2531 DPS against Barakah in PoF (also died this fight) with my pet named after someone else in the raid. https://imgur.com/a/FCnLfEF Please show me a Summoner on this same type of fight where the pet is giving them 3,000 DPS. Here is a parse with my pet having my name. https://imgur.com/a/bH4nj3g Seems to have only given me ~ 1500 DPS Which is right where you said you think it should be in the 30-40% range, yet you are asking to nerf it's damage by half.
Here is the same parse from a Conjy https://imgur.com/a/yyP3dMC Overall damage = 4267 Pet damage = 1650 Also inside that 30-40% range
Updated numbers. Was pretty inflated. I feel like we should probably be more in the 15-20% range for just passive damage that requires pressing one button.
If something as dramatic as nerfing pets outgoing damage by half was to be done, it needs to be done prior to content being released. (Like now) Or at the very least communicated now, so players / raid teams can make adjustments during the downtime we currently have. Not the first week or 2 of an expansion with no warning.
On longer fights and raid zonewides, summoner pets on live do 40-50% dps, which is more than they do here. Illy pets do about 15%, which is the same here. I don't think nerfing pet damage is the solution. Until KoS beta there really is no point in...well any proposed changes.
Thanks for giving the insight into live. I don't have any idea where they fall in terms of the DPS meters on live. Are they way above any other T1 DPS? If that's not the case, I think that's precisely the reason they added the "dial" only to TLE. Currently, most T1 DPS are opting to play summoners because of how easy they are (mostly because so much damage comes from pets) and the fact they do quite a bit more dps for less effort. That points to poor balance and design. I think if they were a bit lower than other tier 1 dps, it would make sense because of ease of play. Personally, I think the pet is the place where balance should be made. Reducing their damage from other spells seems to further reduce the effectiveness of actually pushing their buttons. From even a live perspective, I still think it's odd to have passive damage making up a huge portion of your DPS as well, but if they are behind other T1 damage that take a bit more "effort" to play with less passive DPS, then I think it's a bit more acceptable.
Passive, no effort like auto-attack damage? Look at ranger's raid parses, it's about the same percent of their dps as a summoner's pet on Varsoon. Both are T1 dps and rangers are only slightly behind summoners on raid bosses if similarly geared. No one is crying about rangers being OP, because very few raid spots are given to them since they can get similar dps from other T1 classes that have more utility. A lot of people love TLE because skill is a significant factor in parses, but that also quickly fades as content carries on and gear, AA specs and buffs takes over. I will also say that anyone playing a summoner isn't going to be well known for their mad skills, because the distance between a very good and crappy one isn't much on the parse if equally geared and buffed. If someone wants notoriety that probably wouldn't be their top choice. That's not what matters to most players anyway. I hear your point, but summoners aren't destroying the parse, they've got a nice edge, but nothing insane. We'll see what KoS brings.
Ranger auto DPS is ~1400. They have to gear for it, they have to be in melee range for most of their stuff and suffer some risk of death, they're a T1 DPS with virtually zero group utility or debuffs, they require huge investments in terms of group buffs, they are harder to one-button because of stealth chains and positioning, and they're only competitive on single target, assuming their temps are up. Even then, I can show you a ranger and conj of comparable skill right now, with the conj ~10% ahead on the parse. Oh, and they have to buy bolts to do any of that, which is reason enough to dunk your argument. I'm normally pretty fine with aoe dps being huge, since so much of that is meaningless, but summoner dps across all encounter types is pretty madness. Not to mention the beepboop potential. If there's a desire to balance them, cut their pet HP by ~90% or something and take away their AOE immunity. Make them fall over to every aoe they're not babied for, especially the ones that are nearly killing the scouts on single target fights. Reward them for microing their pets a little, punish them by forcing a recast if they fail to do so, and I think summoners will be in a much better place. As was said above, it's the fact that they're entirely braindead and free. AAs come later that will soften the blow, and might actually have value if pets are actually dying.
Yes, thank you for repeating what I typed above. 30-40% of a ranger's dps is passive (auto-attack, requires ammo and poisons). They aren't desired because of their lack of utility and other classes with more utility with similar or even better dps, etc. You missed the point though. Nerfing class defining attributes, even passive ones (like a ranger's ranged auto-attack or a summoner's pet dps), is not the answer. It would be different if ranger auto-attack damage or summoner pet dps were greater than it should be in relation to other things the classes does, but it is NOT in either case here. Advocating for one and not the other is faulty thinking, both are automatic. There is no doubt that summoner's could use an overall slight dps nerf in DoF content and that they are a mind numbingly easy to play. But I think devs can be a little smarter about addressing it than what's been proposed here and tune it based on what's happening in KoS instead of comparing content/skills that are irrelevant in under a week.
Nerfing summoner pet dps is the answer, by way of making them work harder for it. Ranger auto dps isn't automatic. It's a monstrous investment from the ranger and the raid. If you think I reposted what you posted, you didn't read it.
