Guild Wars 2

I just want to say that if the next update holds another environmental hazard boss encounter (ie. Frizz, Mai Trin, Null, Liadri, etc…) where my pet dies almost instantly…

I’m going to kick a kitten. It will probably be my kitten. Seriously, fighting handicapped is not fun. Neither for me, nor my group. Hopefully I will be wrong.

I went into a dungeon for the first time on my ranger yesterday. I had no idea how useless pets were in PvE, it spent more time dead than alive no matter what I did with it.

Pets against the legends in the pavilion are fun too. Now ok some of those legends are made by a madman, wiggin and kuraii for instance have so much AOE your pet is toast, my pet cannot even can a shot at these guys.

+1 Razor

That being said Ranger was ez mode for every fight up until Liadri, and you could use spiders vs Mai Trin, and Null.

But it’s certainly disheartening when it’s simply impossible to use a class mechanic that you’ve been balanced around using.

I generally just throw sticks for my pets to fetch, and film them doing funny stuff for Youtube. My ‘GW2 Ranger Pet Tries to Fight Lolz!’ video has nearly 82,000 views!

Love my pet(s). :-) Its much fun to have them around and they actually help me out in more than one situation. They tank (even the big bosses) while I am targeting at range, they protect / heal me during downstead and they even do the killing job for me while I am rezzing a poor soul. They might not be very helpful in highend dungeons, though.

Those bone fingers that knock you back. I had a good 15 mins yesterday sending my bear at them and watching it fly through the air. I was in fits of giggles

So we’ve found a good use for them!

Ranting about the pet mechanic again?

This type of content is NEVER going away….if you play a Ranger, grit your teeth and plan for DOA pets. Every zone in the open world has numerous encounters that render pets useless….

I’m not saying to quit asking for some sort of change to the pet mechanic, but pointing at THIS content angrily about the broken pet mechanic is just silly.

I dont know Brother Grimm, even my char says it:
“Your pet needs help”
Some kind of confirmation in the game already so they must know it. He says it a lot btw.

The problem is that they can’t seem to design hard encounters without resorting to lame instant kill AoEs. Yes, we get it, dodging is cool but isn’t it time we start making fights about more than just dodging the evil circles of death?

… And if not can we at least make pets take significantly less damage from them? While I’m not a ranger I do miss my minion master build.

Fungalfoot.7213:

The problem is that they can’t seem to design hard encounters without resorting to lame instant kill AoEs. Yes, we get it, dodging is cool but isn’t it time we start making fights about more than just dodging the evil circles of death?

… And if not can we at least make pets take significantly less damage from them? While I’m not a ranger I do miss my minion master build.

I’m sorry but other than Liadri where has the game used instant kill AoEs?

And what are you proposing to replace it as a hard mechanic?

Ok, so what i do with my pets, and this is a HUGE secret that only very few know, i SWAP my pets between fights!, so let’s say the big bad boss has AoE at his feet, i will use a ranged pet, if it’s random then i have easy access to protections through traits and pets, the uniqueness is you can CHOOSE the pet for the encounter! I know it’s a shock to most people that just use 1 pet, never swaps it, like people that never swap utilty skills either, it’s a secret though so do not tell any one!

Risingashes.8694:

Fungalfoot.7213:

The problem is that they can’t seem to design hard encounters without resorting to lame instant kill AoEs. Yes, we get it, dodging is cool but isn’t it time we start making fights about more than just dodging the evil circles of death?

… And if not can we at least make pets take significantly less damage from them? While I’m not a ranger I do miss my minion master build.

I’m sorry but other than Liadri where has the game used instant kill AoEs?

And what are you proposing to replace it as a hard mechanic?

Try almost every explorable dungeon.

This is exactly the reason why I watched those “new” dungeons on youtube (F&F excluded). I love doing Fractals and some other dugeons but all these new boss fights just ain’t made for rangers. My alt is a Mesmer, but I no longer play that.

Azzer.8137:

Ok, so what i do with my pets, and this is a HUGE secret that only very few know, i SWAP my pets between fights!, so let’s say the big bad boss has AoE at his feet, i will use a ranged pet, if it’s random then i have easy access to protections through traits and pets, the uniqueness is you can CHOOSE the pet for the encounter! I know it’s a shock to most people that just use 1 pet, never swaps it, like people that never swap utilty skills either, it’s a secret though so do not tell any one!

Ever tried that in the Pirate dungeon? Guess what it doesn’t work because of the ever present AoE. Most new content is AoE heavy. I agree that some older dungeons and fractals can be a blast with the right pets, but sadly that doesn’t apply to those new bosses, which are actually really fun otherwise.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Ranting about the pet mechanic again?

This type of content is NEVER going away….if you play a Ranger, grit your teeth and plan for DOA pets. Every zone in the open world has numerous encounters that render pets useless….

I’m not saying to quit asking for some sort of change to the pet mechanic, but pointing at THIS content angrily about the broken pet mechanic is just silly.

Does DOA stand for dead on arrival?

It took 4 years for GW1 to fix ranger pets in PVE. Don’t get your hopes up. Even in PVP their primary function was to die (iway, necro factory)

I thought pets were only useful for making people laugh with funny names.

marnick.4305:

It took 4 years for GW1 to fix ranger pets in PVE. Don’t get your hopes up. Even in PVP their primary function was to die (iway, necro factory)

Pets were a pretty vital part in the IWAY combo from what I remember- so vital that even the Warriors took them.

But yeah I find pets in team play quite troublesome and that’s partly due to the pets AI being mostly automated, it needs a system similar to WoW’s pet system.

Rangers definitely have some problems… Like, current release “end” content is Liadri, right? I feel like rangers are awfully bad at here, since:

• your pet is always dead – ~1/3 less DPS
• elite skills… mass root that doesn’t work on boss and rampage that needs an alive pet
• signet condition removal requires alive pet as well, healing spring doesn’t heal as much as other healing skills so with it you’ll be probably dead in the first phase.
• meleeing Liadri is almost suicide; long bow requires at least 500+ range to have nice DPS – not in the dome, yeah; shortbow benefits from flanking, which is impossible there; axe doesn’t have much DPS at all.

And yes, I killed Liadri.

On the pets thing, Mesmers and Necros have a similar issue. It is not as bad, but still not good. In a lot of dungeons or just bosses with AOE, my Phantasm Mesmer and Minion Master necro both use minions to do more DPS. Yet in most cases they are dead just a few seconds later. They can be recast in just a short time, however with a lot of AOE I tend not too bother. Perfering to use a Well build Necro in those cases. It sucks for AI, pets and minions in this game currently.

Also AOE seems to be the answer to large scale content, so expect more in my opinion. Though fights like Laidri and dungeons it needs to be more balanced.

The queens speech is announcing the exile of all Rangers from Kryta because they are a ‘embaressment’ to all the true heros, Guardians, Thiefs, Mesmers etc…and are just not needed any more by anybody.

Also, there pets poop everywhere…

Try almost every explorable dungeon.

most dungeon boss attacks can be avoided or tanked by pets

dronzer.8392:

marnick.4305:

It took 4 years for GW1 to fix ranger pets in PVE. Don’t get your hopes up. Even in PVP their primary function was to die (iway, necro factory)

Pets were a pretty vital part in the IWAY combo from what I remember- so vital that even the Warriors took them.

But yeah I find pets in team play quite troublesome and that’s partly due to the pets AI being mostly automated, it needs a system similar to WoW’s pet system.

There were only Warriors in IWAY and as he said the purpose of pets in that build were to die.

Shoe.5821:

Try almost every explorable dungeon.

most dungeon boss attacks can be avoided or tanked by pets

His point is that overreliance on 1-2 shot AOE’s is less ‘challenging’ than ‘friggen annoying’, I know it’s the main reason why I don’t do dungeons.

marnick.4305:

Even in PVP their primary function was to die (iway, necro factory)

Never seen bunnythumpers in action?

WatchTheShow.7203:

Does DOA stand for dead on arrival?

Yes it does….I don’t have a quick acronym for, “Get in One Shot and Die” (I doubt anyone will recognize GiODS).

DOW Mageski.2097:

On the pets thing, Mesmers and Necros have a similar issue. It is not as bad, but still not good. In a lot of dungeons or just bosses with AOE, my Phantasm Mesmer and Minion Master necro both use minions to do more DPS. Yet in most cases they are dead just a few seconds later. They can be recast in just a short time, however with a lot of AOE I tend not too bother. Perfering to use a Well build Necro in those cases. It sucks for AI, pets and minions in this game currently.

Also AOE seems to be the answer to large scale content, so expect more in my opinion. Though fights like Laidri and dungeons it needs to be more balanced.

yes but they dont account for a large portion of your regular DPS like the rangers pet does. the mesmers mirrors and illusions are meant to die rather quickly.

the minions though need some work, as they arent supposed to die quickly.

The only thing I use my pets for in dungeons that have environmental hazard boss encounters is for healing/buffs/conditions. I usually don’t die a lot, even when my pet is dead, but I hit like a wet noddle.
It is not fun to lose part of your DPS. Luckily, I have other characters to play with. I wish I could use my main for this kind of stuff, though.

Aisina.4963:

Those bone fingers that knock you back. I had a good 15 mins yesterday sending my bear at them and watching it fly through the air. I was in fits of giggles

So we’ve found a good use for them!

Cookie is not amused by this post. She will be watching you, Aisi!

Pets can be hopelessly cannon-fodder-y in dungeons but it can get better with some micromanagement. I need to experiment with trying to change the hotkey for the pet commands (if that is possible) since the F keys are not as easy to reach as others. Pathing is generally the biggest problem since they don’t stand right next to you and don’t seem to be able to see red circles.

On bosses with a lot of aoe kind of stuff, using a pet on passive with a helpful F2 (such as a moa, fern hound or grizzly) or a ranged pet can be easier; I had to swap to a spider for Null because poor Cookie was tripping on all the mines.

On which note, a non-insectoid ranged pet would be fab…hint hint Anet! Perhaps a spitting cobra, or a monkey hurling…coconuts?