tl;dr: pounce via double-tag is bad due to being noisy and inconsistent, there must be an optional dedicated dog pounce button
Just one thing, for now. It’s your first pet class in game, and I would assume usage of the pet should be made as pleasant as possible. How comes it ended up with such god awful solution for the pounce - the action you are supposed to use dozens times a game - as double-tagging? Why isn’t there an optional dedicated pounce button as well? In many cases I don’t want to distract my allies when I know the target doesn’t threat anybody and it will be dead in a few seconds anyway when the dog will get there. And I hate myself when I have to do it dozens times a match - as I was on the other side of the situation and I hated my arbi teammates for how noisy they were. Why do you want your DLC premium class hated that much, is it so hard to add one more button definition?
Another issue with double-tag is that it’s cumbersome to execute during a heated combat. Yes you can automate it with some gaming mouse, I already do - result is still rather inconsistent, as if you try to tag it with quick mouse movement, the two tags will often land on different foes in the group, and NEITHER of them will be pounced actually, you’ll need to repeat the operation one or two more times.. being even more hated for how noisy you are. This happens even if you set delay between tags to rather low values, like 25ms, in your script. Still inconsistent at times.
And no, mods don’t solve it too, they use scripted double tagging approach as well, with the same outcomes. Not to mention nobody is supposed to rely on mods in such basic things.
Here how it should be implemented:
A new dedicated button for dog pounce is added; the old double tagging pounce stays too for those who prefer it
When you send a dog to a foe, new marker appears above their head, for others to see the dog is on the way. NO SOUND CUE is played when this happens, only visual indication
There is single tap companion spotting in the options, obviously it isn’t a fantastic solution but I don’t find regular spotting useful at all (I could put flashing lights on the target and I’m pretty sure my allies still wouldn’t notice, unless it was a brain burst). I find it does make it a lot easier to take advantage of the dog though. Especially when you notice its target die with other valid pounce targets nearby. That’s the secret to the new dog space program that lets it leap up to 30m. Retargetting when its mid pounce.
I do wish there was a separate option to ping, and sick the dog. It’s not the biggest issue for me though.
Or perhaps simply to mute your own pings for yourself and teammates, which would mean the current system worked a bit better. There’d still be the issue of the unintentional double tap, but with the one ping option I’m using right now, there are times when I just ping stuff, and don’t need/want the dog to go after it.
You are right, I missed it. Still, you are right on the other thing as well - it’s hardly a solution. Still noisy af, overloading my allies with useless information. Also I assume if I tag something for the dog, and then tag something else for myself or my allies - dog will go to the later instead? This is just awful. I often use tagging for myself, to get better visibility on some specialist, and I totally imagine situation when I’ll want to send the dog to one target - then tag another one to kill it myself. It’s so messed up, just unbelievable. How it’s half a year has passed, and they couldn’t just add one extra button assignment?
LessAnnoyingArbites mod does solve the double tap issue, it has a separate keybind with no delay. That mod doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to crashes though. I edited it to remove all the other features and it seems to be fine.
When you need to install a mod (moreover mod a mod, that’s beyond 99% of players capabilities already) to just get a basic QoL thing - that screams of UI issue.
Yea, that mod has a much better dog system. You can make your dog pounce whatever elite/special/boss your crosshair is currently pointing at or have it pounce whatever you have tagged at the moment (without having to double tag or have your tag be tied to pounce).
This crash was supposedly hotfixed recently, not sure if that applies to mods though or just the base the game since it could occur unmodded on rare occasions.