I agree that retrieve does need to be sorted, it makes the point of some quests totally useless (like those where you have to do something to open up a room which contains an item) and allows people to easily get into places like guildhalls.

I agree that this needs to be fixed as soon as it can, it's obviously going to start causing problems. Restrict seeking to the manse where the dog already is, and create some sort of protective mechanism to prevent seeking into particular rooms.

If it's on-plane with us, recall can be forced (off eq, I might add) and it can easily be killed, slaying us. The only real choice we have is to run the hell away. If we bring it with us, it'll die in a few hits, and so will we. If we leave it in a guildhall, it can be tracked and killed, and 99.9% of the time, no one is in the guildhall to notice. The only thing I can think of is leaving it at a Nexus with a totem and guards, and hopefully people there to watch, but there's still the recall problem. Make it non-forcable or have it require equilibrium at least?

Oh, and for all Hartstone, I have a key to our shop, anyone who wants to leave their familiar in the stockroom until this is fixed, let me know.

Badgers for sale! Foxes and owls too! Get them while they're hot!

Manses in general should just not be able to be ported into one way or another...


As for protection, if you want to protect a place just place guards there. I'm sure a member of security can take guards and place them in the guildhalls if they like.

Since they are unable to find things in stockrooms, its obvious the admin allready thought about the limitations they wished to place on the skills.

Besides, if you made it impossible to be able to go to guild tutors, or placed items around to stock it, then you are hurting the people in your commune who want to be able to get to their own guild teacher quickly.

They can walk like everyone else. People are too damn lazy. And yes, I know I'm a hypocrite who totem returns to his guildhall from Mother.

And yes, you can place guards, but I don't want anyone wandering our guildhall, even if they're not enemies. We have to routinely kick out Moondancers who flow in as it is. And we simply can't afford to put enough guards to seriously deter someone at every guild tutor. We would be losing power each day.

Can you not leave it in a safe room like the Portal of Fate?

You seem to depend on your familiar so much. You also seem to get a crap load of benefits from having it. I can see how having something THAT vulnerable to your life would have it's problems. But you shouldn't be able to just put that familiar in a place where it can never be killed. What would be the point of having that vulnerability in the first place?

The problem, in my eyes, is the extremes of the vulnerability. Either the familiar is invulnerable (in a manse that can't be tracked into, safe room that can't be recalled from, etc), or the familiar is absurdly fragile (force recall as druid nears death, track to manse while noone is there).

I can't see any middle ground solution, but there should be one!

A safe room would work too. Bond commands seriously need to require equilibrium, or not be forcable, though. Anyone could force bond move out, for example, if I had it at the Portal, and have their friend kill it in 3 seconds.

The vulnerability, in my opinion, is far too much. We either manage to get rid of it nearly completely, or we don't use it. I'm sure as hell not using a skill that could get me killed more than it saves me.

Maybe the familiar should log out with you then? It is, after, very closely tied to you. Maybe it's soul should depart with yours.

I see your point, though. It doesn't seem like a very good ability to have if it's forceable.

But it's much less of a problem when they log out - they don't die when then log in if their familiar was killed, they just lose 18P. The problem is when they're not in their manse, but logged in, and someone raids their manse with retrieve.

Have you guys ever figured that, y'know, maybe you actually have to have a couple of players volunteer to keep watch on the beasts while the rest of you conduct the battle?

24/7?

Maybe familiars should disappear when the player does. *Shrug*

You completely miss the point.

Familiars dying when the player isn't there isn't the problem.

By watching 24/7, what I mean is, as long as there is a druid in the realms, he needs to have his familiar watched in an off-prime location by someone strong enough to kill a hound in seconds. All druids need someone to do this. So, there would have to be an animal sanctuary manse for each of the two druid guilds, staffed 24/7, where druids can leave their familiars. Otherwise, the familiars can be trivially killed, and unblockably killed. And that just isn't right.

I like the idea thats been thrown up, about having somethign like a scented candle to block a room. Can place them in the room with the tutor, can place them in a room where you keep your familiar, can place them in your manse. The candle obviously can burn up and require replacement, but it works. It doesn't ruin the skills as they are, but can afford some protection for areas that obviously don't need other people getting in.

Add candles, to wall fixtures in artisans.

Aye, I'm liking Ialie's idea, it will allow manses/guilds to buy them for more protection. And seeing as Lisaera doesn't want the skill completely Nerfed, maybe the candles need to hang on walls and thus can't be used outdoors? so someone can't fill all of X local area up with them?


I'm still not liking that they can zip through the quests like mad, but I'll just shut up about that if our guild halls and friend's manses get protected.

Hartstone needs a roof

This is wrong for several reasons. First, the ONLY skills with your familiar are unite and transmigrate. This is not a crap load of benefits. Only one can be used at a time, and neither are actively useful in combat. Actually, that's really the main thing wrong with it, that hasn't been covered. Either way, I think familiars should be enlargeable and empowerable, or just have more health as is. Also, more familiar-related skills would be nice, if they are in fact powered to a not-instant-kill level.