Guild Wars 2

Problem
The Ranger is less affected by power than other classes. The reasoning for this is because the Ranger has a pet. So, the Ranger is handicapped from the start, unless the pet accounts for the loss.

This means the Ranger is handicapped if:
1) the Ranger uses any power based build (Berserker, Cleric, Longbow, Greatsword)
2) the pet is unable to damage the target (elevation, moving target or pet on cooldown or CCed)

These problems manifest itself the most in PvE boss battles where the pet is usually on cooldown (especially in the new dungeons) and WvW where the pet is either dead (zergs) or unable to reach its target (walls).

This is unacceptable and I can’t imagine these side-effects to be by design.

Solution:
The Ranger has to get the full effect of power and the pet should take none. The pet’s base damage should be set appropriately.

For those who love a pet based build, there should be a way through traits to increase the stats of the pet at the cost of the stats of the Ranger.

I agree with this a lot. I’ve always liked the Ranger class, but every time I try to pick it up I’m always put off by the lack of direct damage I deal (condition builds are alright though, I’ll give Anet that). What I’d like to see is the Ranger benefiting from power more like you suggested, and making the passive Beastmastery stats increase pet attribute by 1-2% per point spent instead of +10. It would allow the Ranger to fully utilize a power based build, but would still allow the player to increase the effectiveness of the pet to a fairly good degree as well.

Holland.9351:

The pet is unable to damage the target (elevation, moving target or pet on cooldown or CCed)

These problems manifest itself the most in PvE boss battles where the pet is usually on cooldown (especially in the new dungeons) and WvW where the pet is either dead (zergs) or unable to reach its target (walls).

This is unacceptable and I can’t imagine these side-effects to be by design.

My suggestion is that when the pet is set to Passive that the Ranger benefits from some boost. Either an increase in stats to make up for the lack of pet or some other passive boon (similar to how signets work). This also allows for versatility as the Ranger can conditionally set the pet to attack/passive in the tactically appropriate situations. I’d prefer to avoid traits as not all builds put points into Beast Mastery, but all builds do suffer from the problem.

Well, as a Cleric/Longbow/Greatsword Ranger, I have to say I’ve never felt handicapped. So I don’t see the problem. Longbow doesn’t do a significant amount of damage to begin with but Greatsword does a ton.