Guild Wars 2

Hi, for long while now there has been few problems with Pet Mechanics in term’s of the F2. Most of the current problems are making it hard for rangers to make clutch plays with there F2, I’ve waited up to 10 seconds for my Pet Wolf to cast his F2.

Current problems

• F2 taking to long to cast.
• F2 doesn’t about-face to face the target.
• F2 will cast into middle of no where if the pet isn’t attacking the target first.

How to fix the problems

• There should be shorter cast times for almost all F2 skills.
• All pet’s should about face to the target selected when F2 has been activated.
• F2 should not require the pet to be attacking before you can activate the F2 in order to hit the target, this is major problem.

Example (Lightning Drake)

• On pet swap the Lightning Drake will first wait for it to be given a target to attack if you cast your F2 before even know you have a target selected it will fire its F2 into middle of no where.

• Next problem is once you get your pet to attack a target before you select the F2 it will start using its skill’s so even if you proc your F2 it will wait in skill que before the drake will use there F2, by the time they use there F2 it’s to late the target isn’t sitting in the location you first proc’ed the F2.

• Due to how the F2 works on the Drake it requires the target to be 180 in front of them half the time the target has already moved and ends up behind the drake missing its hole attack putting F2 on CD.

• Even with good pet control using the F3 to call your pet back to lineup there skill, once you activate the F2 it won’t turn around and cast there F2 at the target, so for skills like Lightning Drake which require to be facing the target it will proc the F2 into middle of no where canceling the skill putting it on CD.

This is one of major problem’s rangers are having with pet’s, I believe with few change’s to how the Que of the skill work’s and some general mechanic changes most of pet problems will be fixed and use of pets will become enjoying rather then a burden.

I tried to keep it simple for the Dev’s and given reason and example of what is happening. I can get some video footage is required.

You’re working around the problem Sin because you tell the pet to passively follow you. From this passive position it will then activated the F2 ability when pressed, but then it hits the issue Sol was mentioning where the ability will go off in the middle of nowhere. As you mentioned, you don’t care because the pet is likely where you want it to be when you work around the problem and it howls there.

The downfall to this is the pet still must wait for the follow command (I believe, haven’t played Ranger for a month or 2 now) which is the same problem the F2 skill has, it’s just not as apparent because of the short cast time between the pets auto attack.

What happens when you tell your pet to return when it’s in the middle of a howl or a leap though? It waits till the end of the animation and then returns, correct? It’s all the same issue.

The other downfall to your method is you’re taking a noticeable DPS hit to work around the problem. This is not acceptable. It’s also not a realistic option for a pet using a real offensive skill like the drake’s breath or a birds swoop or what have you.

I agree with most of Sol’s points. The pet should auto face and track the target when activating their ability (doesn’t the mesmer sword flurry track?). The pets should all have a .5 second cast time for their F2 ability regardless of which one is used. If the F2 ability you want to use isn’t an attack that deals damage, the pet shouldn’t try to move within range to make it go off.

Now that all said, this discussion is ultimately going to be useless judging from the 12/15 thread we brought all these issues up in. I’m not a game programmer, but from their description of the problem it sounds like there isn’t a thread waiting to receive the player’s input so the system has no way of knowing you’ve pressed any of the pet’s keys until they come up in queue. Thus why many Rangers have been trying to suggest ways to simply change the entire pet mechanic to fit ANet’s terrible system.

Sin Stonestrike.9326:

I’m probably not as experienced as you Sol, but I don’t have as much of a problem with my pets…. I somewhat agree that pets can F2 into the air after swap, but seem much less likely to do so if you hit F4, F1, and then F2 (takes no extra time). Of course I run a wolf and drake-hound, so the AoE F2 ability doesn’t need a target (goes off consistently though).

I love all my pets and don’t see them as a burden in most game-play situations (except heavy AoE). I’ve learned most of the different species small quirks and manage to work with them fine.

Drake blast finisher into Healing spring (check), bird and cat F2 spike during combat or when downed to down other player (check), Moa daze and AoE heal utilization (check), porcine and canine knockdown during combat or when about to be stomped (check), jellyfish regen water combo + leap finisher into immobilize + heavy AoE F2 (check), spear knockback followed by shark fear (check), spider immobilize + poison field into weakness combo when tracking or kiting a target (check), porcine F2 into hero elixir for immunity (check). Am I missing anything?

I’ve got no problems with the pet skills or there damage.

My problem is I can’t make clutch plays due to few mechanics behind how F2 works. When the target is right on top of you and say you pet swap to use your F2 you first have to get the pet to attack the target due to how close they are it will use one of it’s skills first putting the skill you planned to use right then in skill que when you required it right there and then.

The game is to fast game play to have slow skill windows like that.

Sin Stonestrike.9326:

I don’t keep my pets on passive and don’t “work around them.” I work with them…… I get that micro managing combat is the key to success, but knowing your pets enough to make the call as to whether their regular skills or F2 abilities will go off as you want is where I like to draw you attention.

Again you probably know this, but setting up your pet can be very beneficial. Notice where they are in relation to you and your opponents. If you use an F2 ability or notice the pet gearing up for one of its better skills kite your opponent to them so it hits. Same with the issue of pets being locked in place when attacking. I like to dodge around my pet so that it consistently hits and acts as a shield.

…. on a second thought though I usually trait for quickness on swap. Could that be why these issues aren’t affecting me?

This kinda has nothing to do with problems at hand, we shouldn’t have to work around the problems with the F2, the changes I promote just gives us better control in a game where speed and timing is everyone.

Currently most rangers are dealing with it YES!, but I’m sick of dealing with it when I make clutch play call over com’s I’m doing my fear/stun combo and bloody fear doesn’t go off for next 5 seconds kinda makes the play void. I hate not being a play maker and counting on rest of my team to make plays while I just spam 1 mindlessly.

F2’s are defiinitely too slow across the board. Leaps are particularly slow and miss far too frequently to be generally useful in a PVP environment.

I’d go further and suggest the best change for pets would be:

• pets move faster by default (ie: make http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Agility_Training baseline)
• reduce pet F2 cast times to be closer to a mean of ~0.25sec instead of ~1sec.

A large part of the general uselessness of pets is they suck at applying damage/F2s vs players.