Guild Wars 2

Specific Game Mode

• PvE

Proposal Overview
Improve certain weapon skills

Goal of Proposal
QoL improvements.

Proposal Functionality

Shortbow
Autoattack changed to a 2 component attack, one doing the same dmg as the current crossfire with bleeding on it (no flanking) and the second component doing 30% more raw dmg with no bleeding. To offset the power increase & to differentiate it even better with Longbow, range could be decreased to 600. Would be nice if at least one of these attacks could pierce all the time.

Sword
Dodge should work without any delay. Leaps shouldn’t happen at all below a certain distance, like 100-150. (it’s no fun when I cannot dance around my mob like with a warrior)
(The current sword 2 skill is a great mobility skill, also it encourages skill based play, I would keep it as is. )

Axe
Currently I feel that main-hand axe is very nearly useless for aoe-ing mobs. To fix this either change it back to how it has been pre release hitting 5 targets, or increase the damange substantialy. It would be interesting if it hit 5 targets, but by each hit the dmg would get lowered significantly, this could lead to a usable single target utility as well.
Winter’s Bite: This skill could be changed to the pet causing aoe weakness at its location.

Would be nice if we could move around while channeling offhand axe 5.

Longbow
Rapid fire could pierce all the time. (if both shortbow and longbow had a partial piercing ability the piercing arrows trait could be removed entirely)

I plan to write 3 more proposals on utility skills, pets & traits at a later time

Game Mode
PvE (possibly others)

Proposal Overview
Make the longbow a formidable ranged weapon

Goal
Bring the longbow to a special level of importance for rangers.

function
The longbow feels, to me, like “just another weapon”. It’s the “oh, warriors can use that too” ranged option. Even with range traits, the longbow is just another weapon that could be replaced by something else depending on class. With the exception of Barrage, the longbow isn’t that much different from a short bow. It’s a bow, with a different set of little tricks. We can stealth for a few seconds, big deal.
I would like to see the long bow changed so that there is some fear in the opponent (even in WvW). A reason to “get that ranger!”.
First, corral the longbow into a range only weapon. Allow it to do damage at even melee range, but change the speed of auto-attack. Make it slow enough that using the longbow at melee range doesn’t make sense due to lack of up-close dps.
To balance out the decrease in attack speed, give the auto-attack skill a substantial dps boost, especially at long ranges.
Also, since skill #3 has already been changed once, I propose replacing it with a timed shot. Press #3 to draw the bow, press #3 again to release. The longer the time between draw and release, the greater the damage (to a limit of course, but make it worth it). Again, a slow cooldown would be mandatory.
In the long run the idea is to make the longbow something with high-dps that is desirable in groups, but limited enough in cycle time that it’s less desirable for solo (a place that can then be filled by the short bow).

Risks
Depending on how it’s implemented, it could cause problems in WvW in regards to ground-to-wall or wall-to-ground, but that’s how it should be in my opinion.

PvP

rework of torch #4

Making Torch more interesting for Powerbuilds

Currently the Torch is a condition based weapons. Thats okay, but i think with a Little rework a power build could use that weapon too.
My idea: make #4 a chain attack.
“Swallow the flame” – Gain X Stacks of might for some seconds/ one stack might per second
“Puke the Flame” – Apply some seconds of burn on ur foe

Maybe the combination of some stacks might with condition burn could be really strong

Game mode: PvE

Zef’s weapon revamp suggestions – the axe

Goal of this change
Adjusting mainhand axe skills to match it’s purpose. Dealing with erronous skill descriptions.

Proposed functionality

#1 Ricochet - increased attack power the closer you are to enemy. Reverse situation to longbow auto.

• Reason - axe auto deserves damage buff, but without putting sword out of business. Doing it this way gets the job done – more risk, more damage. It also greatly synergizes with rest of mainhand axe skills and longbow auto.

#2 Splitblade It’s good the way it is.

#3 Winter’s Bite Pierces opponents between ranger and target. Axe is about ranged mob damage, and conditions. Piercing is the hardest way to pull off mob hits, suitable for a move that has very valuable chilling and long weakness on a relatively short cd.

#4 Path of scars - Increased pull range when traited with offhand training.

#5 Whirling defense - Description adjusted to reflection rather then just blocking projectiles.
Reflection bubble size increased to 120, 180 with offhand training. Reflection bubble center always at average character height/2.

• Reason By picking offhand training ranger picks the “I want my whirling defense to be a group reflect”. The bubble positioning should ensure that after traiting offhand training, bubble’s max radius is still at height of the player characters and not 5 meters above them.

Specific Game Mode
WvW – could apply to all

Proposal Overview
Lighting reflexes to remove movement impairing conditions (at least immob.)

Goal of Proposal
Its assumed that lighting reflexes is an escape skill primarily and presently is defeated by immobilize. Being a trait that is specifically slotted (and takes the spot of other abilites) on a 40sec cooldown, it is expected to achieve a short reprieve.

Proposal Functionality
The skill would cure immobilize primarily, preferably also chill and cripple

Associated Risks
There are perceived balance issues with ranger condition removal. If this is intended then the ranger will be less condition vulnerable to movement imparing conditions.

ASCENDED PETS
With so much of the Profession’s functionality bound up in their companion, Rangers need a way overcome the Gear Progression gap introduce with the Ascended Tier by extending the Tier to their most important slot: their pets.

A Ranger’s Journey
Ascended Pets would represent the culmination of a long series of repeatable activities or challenges, comparable to the effort in creating a Vision Crystal. Ideally these paths/tasks would be distinctly Ranger-themed. Completing these tasks would allow you to select one of your existing companions and permanently upgrade it to Ascended status, with a small graphical tag in the pet management panel to identify promoted companions. This would give a 5% increase to base damage and all stats for the pet – the same benefits Ascended gear offers Player Characters.

A Long Road to Walk
Unfortunately, promoting your entire roster of companions could take a very long time. However, this is comparable to the effort all heroes face trying to collect a wide range of weapons or stat combinations for multiple builds.

Game Mode: WvW
Proposal Overview:
Create a passive effect for ranger pets when stowed.
Goal of Proposal
Give rangers the option to put their pets away in an environment such as WvW, where they just get run over by a zerg more often than not.
Proposal Functionality:
When a pet is stowed, a passive effect will activate with an effect unique to that type of pet. For example, the Forest Spider’s passive would be a chance to apply poison on hit and increase condition duration. This would not interfere too heavily with the pet’s active ability because it doesn’t give the on demand poison the spider’s active can give. Swapping pets would allow you to change between two passive effects or one stowed pet and one active pet (for example, the passive of a Krytan Drakehound and the active of a Forest Spider), allowing for more strategic blends of the passives and actives. Make it so that the pet cannot be stowed or taken out in combat.
Associated Risks:

• Skills such as signets would lose their untraited functionality and may need reworking
• Traits that effect the pet exclusively would become useless, but this serves as an appropriate disadvantage to having no pet
• A passive effect has a good chance of eclipsing the pet in many cases
• A ranger’s #3 downed skill would have no functionality and would need an effect when the pet is not there
• Some pet traits that have no good use (master’s bond) may need reworking to even the ground

Specific Game Mode: PvP (and by extension, all other modes)

Proposal Overview
Short aftercast for axe weapon.

Goal of Proposal
Axes are fine in effec and damage but the long aftercast of it make this weapon feels clunky and slow.

Proposal Functionality
Axe skills with at leas 50% less aftercast efect to make it more suitable for combos and presure figths (and skirmishing in general)

Associated Risks
No risk until is tested to know if any.

Game Mode: PvE

Zef’s weapon revamp suggestions – the Longbow

#3 Hunter’s shot - Fires a powerful shot that deals damage, stuns (1s) and grants opening strike.

Cooldown: 20s.
cast time: 1s
Damage 700 (2.5 damage coefficient)
stun: 1s
100% projectile finisher.

Having stealth and swiftness is nice, but that’s not what longbow is supposed to do. The purpose of longbow are powerful, armor piercing, focused long range attacks, that yield tromendous effects if they hit. Hunter’s shot becomes just that, rather then pretending to be thief.

PvX
Proposal Overview
Spirits need something a bit extra in their design. Spirits lack a unique identity. They possess aspects of minion and banner, but without the functionality of either.

Goal of Proposal
As I understand it spirits are cast right before an engagement and with the summon cast time are a bit of pain in pace of combat. With the cast time of one and half seconds they are a bit of pain in the current pace of combat. These changes would encourage the ranger to use the spirit and its summoning in a more tactical ways other than preemptive summoning.

Proposal Functionality
Spirits could use a bit more buffing potential in the form of the both a proc on hit mechanic that we already see on all but the elite and a passive while the spirit lives like the elite currently has.

Spirit of Nature: After Cast: X condition(s) are cleansed around the ranger. Proc effect: add a % chance on hit to transfer a condition to the target hit.

Spirit of Water: After Cast: heal the ranger and the pet for X or perhaps a brief non-regeneration heal over time. Pulse effect: may have to pulse a brief regeneration boon.

Storm Spirit: After Cast: a call lightning effect. Proc effect (redesign) vulnerability on hit. Pulse effect swiftness.

Stone Spirit: After Cast: quicksand effect. Pulse: Removes cripple and/or immobilize.

Sun Spirit: After Cast: small pbaoe damage and blind. Pulse: short duration might

Frost Spirit After Cast: Frost Armor for x seconds. Pulse: Removes 1 boon from enemies within short-mid radius.

Associated Risks
Spirit retain a certain level of passive effect which seems to annoy a vocal bit of the population. If the up time of the effects from either the After Casts or the Pulse are not well tuned there could be imbalance in either direction (too weak/too strong).

Game Mode: PvE

Zef’s weapon revamp suggestion – the Dagger (offhand)

4. Stalker’s Strike – added one stack of opening strike to current functionality.

Being unique ranger mechanic that can support group damage Opening Strike should be more then just one traitline feature. It should be also available through some weapon skills.

Dagger is the perfect weapon for melee source of it. Lacking a clear group utility at bosses unlike all other offhands, and being the “surprise attack” weapon it fits like a glove.

Since we want to apply it at close range, Stalker’s Strike is the only choice.
It also adds some tactic to the move (use it as evasion, or pop it the second it goes off cd for opening strike).

Note Be sure to check my opening strike upgrade above.

Specific Game Mode

• PvP/PvE

Proposal Overview
Making Ranger skill look more awesome.

Goal of Proposal
The goal is to make ranger look cool. This is purely for cosmetic option.

Proposal Functionality

First is melee:
When a ranger is at a certain distance between his target, he will use a melee version of that weapon attack.

There are three ranged weapons: Axe, Longbow, and shortbow.

• Axe- Simple axe slash
• Shortbow- Punch → kick → Bow smack.
• Longbow- Shove, like in Skyrim.

Second is quickshot:

After quickshot is used, it will chain into needling shot. Which will stun the targeted enemy for each shot. The sound effect must sound like it has impact.

Associated Risks

Might be strong and too much fun.

Game Mode: PvE/ WvW
PART I

Proposal Overview
Redesign of the Pet Feature Functionality

Goal of the Proposal
Make the Gameplay of Rangers work better, more fun and truly that of a Beast Master, where the choice of your chosen Pet Companions make up for a significant difference.
Making all of the pets more unique, functionally as like visually.
Strengthen the Core Concept of Pets being the most integral part of the Ranger Class, but with lesser Focus on raw Damage Dealing and more focus on Support/Control and passive effects and active Combo Attacks to let them be more part of the combat system that you can actually control. Making Pets in general more controlable like GW1’s Heroes that you could pinpoint to locations and give them commands that the A.I follows then in regard of the used F-Skills that should make more use in regard of this with Ground Targeting to control your Pets directly actively.

Proposal Functionality

• Let Rangers become able to play with 2 Pets simultanously, if traited fully in Beast Mastery – remove the Pet Exchanging, give Pets also a Downed State
• Reduce the Damage of Pets, raise the overall Damage of the Ranger, therefore, that Pets can get killed now and have a Downed Mode. But Rangers can instant revive Pets, by using their Healing Skill. Revived Pets will receive some temporal Buffs and can’t be killed again within 60 seconds in that they are invulnerable after the revival.
• Change all of the Shout Utilities into the Ranger’s F-Skills
• Replace the old Shouts with new Nature Spell Utility Skills to give the Ranger a bit more “Druid” Flair, he still has the trait line “Nature Magic”… so make use of it.
• Change the Functionality of Nature Spirits to have more Influence on the Ranger’s Weapon Skills and let Pets evolve with special Buffs in regard of which Nature Spirits are up.
• Add to each single Pet a 5th Skill, that works as a pets unique “Symbiosis Skill”. Symbiosis Skills are special Combo Attacks that the ranger’s perform together with their Pets or special passive Buff Effects to the Ranger, like that Rangers receive “Sight of an Eagle”, when playing with an Eagle, that allows them to reveal hidden enemies with AoE’s like Barrage.
  These passive Symbiosis Skills should be progressing unlockables, that you unlock, so higher the “Symbiotic Bond” with your Pet raises, its a Ranger Unique Level System that goes to Symbiosis Level 80. With every Symbiosis Level of your Pet Companion, you unlock a new passive Symbiosis Skill, or you improve a previous unlocked one, similar working to the WvW Skill Tiers, or the Combo Attack with your Pet becomes stronger/more effective.
• Make Pets more customizable (Pet Skins/Pet Evolution), other than just naming them only/ fix the loss of the Pet Name, when changing Pets
• Add more new Pets as also iconic creatures, like Gryphons, Phoenix, Dolphins as examples

Associated Risks
Redesigns always mean, that some heavy Rebalancing will be required, and that some of the significant changes here will naturally lead also into a chain reaction for rebalancing the other classes naturally

Nuzt.7894:

Allie Murdock.8152:

barabajaga.7652:

I know that im out of topic here and not using the format proposal and i apologize for it ,but before posting any ideas about the ranger and having into consideration that this will be read by some dev ,i will like to ask something :

Would you ever (or have you) considered the removal of the pet ,knowing how borked the ai is ,and as anet says ,it can not be reworked because its tied to mob ai?

Or would you consider split the class in to two, ranger/beastmaster ,and rework the pet ai from the ground.

Again sorry for the offtopic and thx for any possible answer.

Removing the pet was something that was discussed in initial design of the class, but it is such an integral part of the Ranger’s design and philosophy.

There might be some ways that we can redesign the pet and it’s AI, but those are big projects. For the time being, we are happy to take any suggestions regarding the pet.

I can see your concern here but, the option to have the pet as such an integral part of the class is one of the largest faults of the class. Could it not be optional to have the pet as an option, basically if you spec wilderness survival your pet becomes a larger part of the class, if you choose to spec in something different to be more valuable to your group then either you don’t have the pet or it has minimal impact on the class.

I agree. If it’s a pet class and the pet AI is so broken and this is integral to the design philosophy of the class, then a huge investment in pet rework is inevitable.

If that is too big of an investment in time, then buff ranger so much so that it doesn’t rely too much in the pet in the meantime. Nerf again once the new redesigned pet AI is available.

Game mode: PvE/PvP/WvW

Proposal overview:
Formatted list of trait suggestions focusing on:

• Compression of pet related traits.
• Reduction of “passive” traits & promotion of “active” traits.
• Changes to grandmaster traits.
• Changes to Opening Strike.
• Changes to condition removal.
• Synergy between traits.
• More fun!

Goal of proposal:
To create new builds and playstyles that make playing ranger more enjoyable and fun.

Proposal functionality:
The list is too long for this thread. Have a link instead.
Link to trait suggestions
(I know it’s a long read but I would appreciate it if you read it through.)

Note: The numbers presented are merely estimates and there is likely to be power creep involved in some of the traits. Also the passive effects of spirits needs to be reworked and I have yet to come up with a solution. Alternatively you can just skip the spirit trait suggestions.

Associated risks:

• Breaks the current PvP balance.
• Spirits would become too strong.
• Too much fun?

I’ll make this very quick for PvP.

1. Buff short bow and long bow – This class is the RANGER. It is crazy that the best specs are melee.
2. Buff pets – Give more control over them, and make them respond to commands more effectively.
3. Nerf uncontrollable AI – Here’s looking at you spirit rangers.
4. Nerf melee weapon sets. These specs have the mosts evades of anyone. It isn’t applicable to a class named RANGER.

Allie Murdock.8152:quote

Removing the pet was something that was discussed in initial design of the class, but it is such an integral part of the Ranger’s design and philosophy.

There might be some ways that we can redesign the pet and it’s AI, but those are big projects. For the time being, we are happy to take any suggestions regarding the pet.

Thanks for clearing this up Allie.

And yes, the pet is very much integral to the Ranger design philosophy. What’s more, it is integral to why a huge number of people rolled Ranger in the first place; so despite the desires of a dozen or so forum regulars, any excessive diminishment of its role would have a very negative impact on the Ranger player base as a whole.

Atherakhia.4086:

[WvW / PvP] Proposal: Ranger Spirits, Mandatory Traits, and removing screen clutter

Proposal Overview
By now everyone is familiar with the word ‘Zoo’ and how it relates to the Ranger class. While the screen clutter is still there, the strategic value of all the minions has lessened because of the changes to tab targeting. Body blocking is still a large issue though and I am proposing we remove the spirits from the game.

Goal of Proposal
The main advantage to removing the spirits using my idea is it will make the utility skills useful without any trait investment so the class can consider using them regardless of the spec they choose while still allowing players the ability to specialize in spirits if they want. It will also remove the screen clutter and body blocking problems spirits currently have.

Proposal Functionality
My suggestion is to remove spirits and instead simply give an ‘aura’ to our pet that does the same thing spirits currently do. Think of it as the spirits ‘possessing’ the animal in some fashion. Spirits will no longer have a duration and will be active 100% of the time until the pet they ‘possess’ dies or is swapped out. Once they ‘die’ they are put on a cooldown for XX seconds before they can be recast. A pet could have one or all of the spirits active at one time on it.

When the user activates a spirit’s ability after it has been summoned, a mini spirit will spawn at your pets current location and .5 seconds later it will detonate causing whatever effect the spirits currently do.

If you have the trait to activate spirit abilities on death, this will now activate when the pet dies or is swapped. Like above, a mini spirit will spawn for each active spirit on the pet at the time of its death/swap, and .5 seconds later they will detonate using whatever ability the spirit has. This had the added advantage of the Ranger getting some controllable burst (Storm spirit activated to spawn a mini spirit to explode for AE damage and then you swap pet to summon a second storm spirit at the cost of the XX second cooldown.

The current trait that is no longer needed because spirits will now always move can be changed to reduce the cooldown on death or simply replaced with some other trait.

Associated Risks

The risks of the current spirits remain because you’re sacrificing a utility slot for the spirit. Some of the advantages of the current spirits like their ability to soak AE or body block projectiles is also removed which increases the risk to the Ranger as well. It also puts enormous responsibility on the Ranger to manage their pet properly or risk it dying or needing to be swapped, which would remove all the spirits from play.

Ranger Spirits wiki page.

Assuming that the summoned spirit actives are destructible (the possibility of a counter should exist), I agree with the majority of this proposal, as I was thinking something similar. One major problem with spirits is that they only become viable when fully traited. Almost no one uses them without all three traits, since each trait adds some functionality that is necessary for it to be viable in whatever game mode you’re in. Obviously with these change values would have to be rebalanced.

The only functional issues with this proposal are Spirit of Nature’s passive and active effect when combined with the Nature’s Vengeance trait. The passive effect (which would be heavily reduced) can be countered by focusing and killing the pet, however triggering spirit actives on pet swap or pet death would make it overpowered (unstoppable AoE ressurection and condition clearing). Nature’s Vengeance would need to be replaced with something else to make this change viable and balanced.

Edit: Also, I forgot to mention that it’s a lot easier to keep track of a single pet than a bunch of spirits among a bunch of AI.

Specific Game Mode
PvE

Proposal Overview
Ranger needs more group utility. I don’t main a Ranger, but I do play one at 80 and I don’t feel like on their own they are poorly balanced. In sPvP I don’t relish the opportunity to fight the “poor useless Ranger”, and in PvE when I play it solo I don’t feel behind my other professions. Only in a group Rangers are lacking and don’t bring much to the table. Allowing shouts to affect party members as well as the Ranger’s pet could be a good start. Also spirits I feel could be more impactful in PvE, giving more useful effects. I don’t feel like even the best spirit (Frost) really adds all that much to a group.

Goal of Proposal
To make Rangers more desirable in group content, especially high level PvE (the upper tier of explorable dungeons and 41+ fractals).

Proposal Functionality
Rangers would become similar to other professions in terms of shouts. Their shouts would help allies, not just pets. Most shouts would probably have to be changed at least a little bit. “Protect Me” could instead send a portion (say, 20%) of the entire group’s incoming damage to the Ranger’s pet (Protect… Us?). “Guard” would give the group protection, possibly retaliation/stability (stealth still goes to the pet). “Search and Rescue” could double the revive speed of all allies in addition to its current effect, keeping the revive theme of the skill. Rangers would still have a unique mechanic with the spirits so they wouldn’t become just a clone of other shouting professions.

Associated Risks
Without a large skill divide between PvE and PvP game modes the spirits are a very slippery slope. I don’t see a way to make them desirable in PvE while not massively overpowered in PvP. Possibly make the spirits objects that don’t have health in PvE (like a banner) while still being a minion in PvP. That is the least intrusive idea I have, but it still doesn’t address the problem of the minimal effects the spirits have in PvE. Changing the spirit functionality to passively affecting an area (like GW1 spirits, but they still have the “overcharge” effect) would be the ideal fix in my opinion.

Oh btw, THANK YOU for asking us!! Hope to see some changes, anything will be helpfulIts probably a big task, and I for one (being a ranger main ) appreciate it.

Specific Game Mode
PvE

Proposal Overview
Add a “Berserker” mode to pets when they “die,” in which they still attack but cannot generate or retain threat, so they can no longer tank.

Goal of Proposal
It’s too difficult to keep pets alive in chaotic situations, and too much hassle to use melee pets in most fights, so this is designed to allow pets to remain viable even when “dead.” In the current system, unless you specifically design your pet to be particularly survivable, and micro manage where they are and what they’re doing, it’s almost impossible to keep a melee pet alive in high damage AoE fights like group boss battles. This greatly limits which pets are viable and takes a lot of the fun out of pet selection.

Proposal Functionality
Basically, I suggest that when a pet’s HP reaches zero, they do not become useless. Instead, they just keep attacking, but they lost all agro management (ie they lose all threat and enemies never target them again). This means that if you send a bear out to tank for you, and he dies, then the enemy will charge right for you, but he can still deal damage continuously.

This change means that you can use melee DPS pets in boss fights and other AoE-heavy situations without having to micromanage their HP, and still benefit from their attacks and special abilities, but prevents you from having the pets be “immortal tanks,” because they can only tank so long as they have HP.

Once in the “Berserker” state, you can return their normal state through the usual swapping and pet-rez methods, or leave them as they are if you prefer.

Associated Risks
It would change the Ranger DPS meta, since it would become impossible to nullify pet damage until the Ranger was dead, but I think it’s worth doing, since no other class has core damage that you can “shatter” like that.

Game mode: PvE

Zef’s weapon revamp suggestion – the Sword

Goal of this change
Increasing sword’s responsivness and reaction speed[/b]

1. Auto attack - No more rooting with each blow, preventing dodges from being used.

.2 hornet sting/monarch’s leap - Faster sting execution.
Evasion skills are immediate response tools, they can’t be sloggish before evasion kicks in.

3. Serpent’s strike - Added 3 stacks of torment (8s).
Sword is the main melee damage weapon of ranger. Adding some extra, escape punishing stacks of torment fits it’s theme perfectly.

Suggested Proposal Format:

Specific Game Mode
WvW

Proposal Overview
Stability Training becomes similar to Vigorous Training, applying 6 seconds of stability to allies in a AOE upon pet swap

Goal of Proposal
To increase the utility and versatility of rangers in WvW, in an effort to make them more viable for the current/Upcoming new META.

Proposal Functionality
Stability Training applies 6 seconds of Stability to allies upon pet swap

Associated Risks
Rangers may have “too much” stability access in total, however this would also help build diversity in those builds that does not normally have stability, potentially eliminating build weaknesses in certain areas. It is a 50/50 whether or not this can or will result in a overall power creep.

Ohoni.6057:

Proposal Overview
Add a “Berserker” mode to pets when they “die,” in which they still attack but cannot generate or retain threat, so they can no longer tank.

Associated Risks
It would change the Ranger DPS meta, since it would become impossible to nullify pet damage until the Ranger was dead, but I think it’s worth doing, since no other class has core damage that you can “shatter” like that.

More risk to that:

• Players can just sit back at a safe place while the pets do the work.
• This will make pets too overpowered in PvP.

I implore you to take large design strides to revamp the prof to a respectable level, instead of small balance steps, which we’ve been getting since release and which have made no difference.

Inspired by WvW problems. Changes can be modified for PVE and spvp.

Rework of pet mechanic and some utilities to improve prof’s utility and survivability in organized WvW settings (GvG, GvZ/raids). Other prof mechanics (DS, adrenaline, virtues, attunements) make their respective profs viable. Ranger pet mechanic makes the ranger non-viable. In addition, rangers bring the lowest survivability, lowest aoe dps and the least utility (boons, heals, CC) to the raid, of any profession.

- remove swap mechanic; allow ranger to specialize playstyle by using a specific family
- decrease pet damage across the board; pets become a “toolkit” and bring boons for the entire party, and on-demand aoe CC or damage in form of F2
- increase pet utility upon death: pet’s spirit remains with the ranger, increasing ranger’s innate damage by 10-20% depending on the family; the pet spirit imbues the ranger with an attack specific to family (i.e. spiders – aoe immob, bear – a charge that kb’s opponents, feline – stealth (?), bird – call down flock for aoe blinds + party vigor, etc.)
- to revive pet, ranger draws energy from battle. a meter is filled up as ranger attacks, reviving pet when full
- while alive, pet gives a boon to all party members when they attack (like spirits do currently), depending on family. i.e. bear – protection, feline – might, bird – vigor, etc.
- in WvW, give pets significant aoe resistance, or some sort of on-demand evasion ability

- rework current spirits to wisps. Wisps are untargetable orbs that orbit the ranger while in their passive state. Wisps imbue ranger’s arrows with elemental damage. When activated, wisp shoots out to 900-1200 creating an aoe field depending on wisp type, and ranger gives up the passive elemental damage. aoe fields do no damage
- according to seasons: spring – rain, bloom (water field), summer – energy (fire), autumn – change, electricity (electrical field that drains endurance), winter – frost

- other necessary tweaks: LR removes chill, immobilize, cripple; signets affect ranger and pet without traiting, SoW gives on-demand stability by being insta cast; decrease CD of some signets. GS swoop has evade, remove evade from #1 chain; Whirling Defense needs to either have more utility if stationary, or it must be usable while moving. SB – if used for skirmishing, it must give more survivability and do more damage (non-condition). LB – #1 has additional charge up function: becomes a ground arrow skillshot that hits harder and pierces the longer #1 is held…using the charge function puts the AA on CD (10-20s). More on-demand condi wipes, as has been suggested.

- like with any revamp, these changes will require more resources and more tweaking. but the ranger will literally be reborn. currently, an entire profession is missing from organized WvW settings.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Removing the pet was something that was discussed in initial design of the class, but it is such an integral part of the Ranger’s design and philosophy.

There might be some ways that we can redesign the pet and it’s AI, but those are big projects. For the time being, we are happy to take any suggestions regarding the pet.

Would it be simpler (or even possible) to alter the “Stow Pet” ability, so that the pet stays stowed until you manually click to Unstow it? This might be a good way to pacify the population until more concrete improvements could be made.

(For the most part, I really enjoy having a pet, but there are a certain situations where I’d prefer it to stay stowed until I’m ready for it again.)

Also, please add in Alpine Stalkers. I love white tigers and that was my primary motivation to roll a Ranger. Then I found out the Alpine Stalkers weren’t Tamable yet. LOL

Specific Game Mode

WvW

Proposal Overview

My proposal is to change ranger spirits to serve better usage in large scale combat. Currently Rangers lack a large scale build similar to every other class. This is a build that they can fit into the current zerging meta of WvW. The big issue atm is rangers simply do not provide enough group support to warrant bringing them over another class. The easiest way I see to address this is reworking their spirits into “Songs”. This would give the ranger better group support and make them more viable.

Goal of Proposal

After leveling ranger to 80 and playing it in WvW I realized a number of things people were saying about the class were true (amazing in small scale, peters off in havoc, and just not good in zergs or blobs except hey thats over 1200 get the ranger!). With this in mind I looked at how other games worked this type of class into the large scale meta. With this train of thought I looked at medium support classes and found “Bards” or “Battle Bards” to be the one thing really lacking in this game, with ranger being the class lacking a support build seems win-win.

Proposal Functionality

My proposal would require the reworking of certain utility skills to make them more viable group support, the two obvious options are the rangers “Shouts” and “Spirits” both are rather lack luster builds with shouts being buggy or not providing good unique support, and spirits just dropping dead right on the first Zerg vs. Zerg engagement. The utility skills chosen would be reworked into buffs which would add better synergization to groups i.e. with spirits they could simply be reworked into a click on click off buff for the group. This could be overpowered if they aren’t turned down a little though. With shouts this would be remarkably more difficult as new buffs would have to be come up with that aren’t to strong yet unique enough too make rangers a more prominent choice.

Associated Risks

This proposal is a drastic overhaul to ranger support and could not be undertaken without help from the CDI. I would like to see something similar happen to make rangers a much more viable class in large scale WvW, but given I have much less hours on this class than others I am not sure how to balance this change or even which buffs should be kept. I ask the more experienced rangers to toss this idea around and come up with some workable skills. Overall I would really like to see this class become stronger as its rather lack luster now in large scale.

Game Mode: PvE

Zef’s Survival Skills tweaking

Goal of this change
Balancing survival skill’s usefulness with eachother and other trait boostable skill sets.

Proposed Functionality

Muddy terrain - additionaly pulses weakness (2s) each pulse. Being knees deep in mud means pretty bad startup for dodges, or landing powerful blows without firm footing.

Sharpening stone - cooldown reduced to 20 seconds. Grants 5 stacks of bleeding (10s) and 1 stack of torment (10s) to both your and your pets attacks.

Quickening Zephyr - no change needed.

Lightning reflexes - cooldown reduced to 30 seconds, since it’s self-skill only that doesn’t
boost damage.

Check out my pet secondary stats suggestion above.

Allie Murdock.8152:

barabajaga.7652:

I know that im out of topic here and not using the format proposal and i apologize for it ,but before posting any ideas about the ranger and having into consideration that this will be read by some dev ,i will like to ask something :

Would you ever (or have you) considered the removal of the pet ,knowing how borked the ai is ,and as anet says ,it can not be reworked because its tied to mob ai?

Or would you consider split the class in to two, ranger/beastmaster ,and rework the pet ai from the ground.

Again sorry for the offtopic and thx for any possible answer.

Removing the pet was something that was discussed in initial design of the class, but it is such an integral part of the Ranger’s design and philosophy.

There might be some ways that we can redesign the pet and it’s AI, but those are big projects. For the time being, we are happy to take any suggestions regarding the pet.

this is slightly offtopic, but i do think the pet is the integral part of the ranger class, it is its class mechanic, and i dont think its a good idea to marginalize it. That said, i think there is a demand for a ranged/adventurer/hunter type of class that isnt linked to a pet, and more personal. Since a recent interview says that you guys do intend things like new proffesions within the life of GW2, i suggest one of them be a MARKSMAN class, focused on preparations/strategically controlling/planning combat. Think of it as an evolution of the other side of GW1 ranger, preparing ahead of time to dmg, and disrupt enemies. and support allies.

This way ranger can be about nature and pets, and marksman can be about prepration/strategy

Game Mode: PvE

Zef’s Trap skills PvE improvement

Goal of this change
Improving trap gameplay for PvE, in terms of utility, damage and group oriented play.

I. Manual trap control
Goal of this change:
Giving the ranger option to fire off trap combo fields without monsters around and to trigger trap manually for smarter usage then plain auto.

Proposed Functionality
Manual trap control could be achieved by pressing trap button once the trap itself is set. First press stops trap from triggering, second triggers it manually. That of course works only if trap wasn’t placed under a monster triggering it instantly.

II. Utility trap skill improvements
Goal of this change:
Improving each traps performance based on it’s combo field and general purpose.

Proposed Functionality

• Flame trap - increase duration to 5 seconds (for combo field), increased physical damage per pulse (210). This is the straight up raw damage and fire combo field trap.

• Spike trap - add 5 stacks of torment lasting 5s each. This trap is about brutal burst of condition damage and movement crippling. Tormet fits like a glove here.

• Viper’s nest - add 2 stacks of confusion (3s) per pulse for some serious condition damage.

• Frost trap - no changes here.

III. Trap related traits tweaks

Goal of this change:
Easier access to trait supporting trap group play, and clear separation of this trait from the one
focusing on offensive benefits for traps.

Proposed Functionality

• Trapper’s expertise: trap cooldown reduction 20%, Traps last 2 seconds longer (including combo fields). Traps can be thrown in 900 range (no ranger weapon matches 600 max range playstyle).

• Trap potency. Increased damage, radius, condition duration of traps. Traps immobilize on activation.
  Physical damage per pulse +25%.
  Trap & combo field radius +90.
  Base condition duration +100%.
  Immobilize duration:2 sec (PvE), 1 sec (PvP).

As you can see trapper’s expertise is the party play upgrade – longer combo fields, shorter cooldowns, and ability to toss it into the fray.
Trap potency offers far greater offense giving conditions 2x their base duration, and making trapping easier with increased trap radius (combo fields included) and immobilize on activation.

Specific Game Mode

All modes

Proposal Overview

15sec CD
Signet of the Archer:
Passive: 30% increased damage when pet is stowed
Active: Quickness 6s

Allow pets to remain stowed, but allow for them to be un-stowed in combat, but not be able to stow them in combat.

Goal of Proposal

This fixes many of the issues in PVE and allows for those that don’t want to play with bad pet AI to do so, without a complete overhaul of AI, reducing your workload.

Proposal Functionality

Lessen the issue of pets dying to splash damage, messing up pulls/mechanics/aggro

Associated Risks

None

Is any consideration being given to better controls, rather than AI improvements? If so…

• Specific Game Mode
  PvE (though it would certainly affect all game modes, PvE is my principal concern)

• Proposal Overview
  Two of the rangers four class skills would be combined, making one skill to control all targeting and offense, and another would be added to give the pet much needed player-controlled defense.

• Goal of Proposal
  Make rangers less dependent on AI by giving pets better control options.

• Proposal Functionality
  Class Skill one change: A skill which rotates between ‘Attack my target’, ‘Continue’, ‘Defend me’, and ‘Continue’. ‘Attack my target’ would cause your pet to follow your targeting. Switching to ‘Continue’ would cause it to continue with its current target. ‘Defend me’ would cause it stay at your side and attack what presents the greatest danger to you. This would allow you to control your pets targeting to a much great degree, with one button, as well as making ‘Return to me’ and ‘Guard/Avoid combat’ redundant, freeing up a skill slot and eliminating an unnecessary UI element.
  Class Skill three change: ‘Return to me’ changed to ‘Dodge’, which would work exactly as it is used by players, using the pets own smaller endurance bar.

• Associated Risks
  Between having two bodies to watch in order to successfully time dodges and the new ‘cycling’ to fully control your pets targeting, this would undoubtedly increase the rangers skill requirements.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Removing the pet was something that was discussed in initial design of the class, but it is such an integral part of the Ranger’s design and philosophy.

There might be some ways that we can redesign the pet and it’s AI, but those are big projects. For the time being, we are happy to take any suggestions regarding the pet.

Hi Allie, please have a look in my original post for the proposal (allow pet spirit to linger after death to buff the ranger). I want to add that pets absolutely must be revamped if you want to keep this profession mechanic! you guys chose to go this route, so either follow through or scrap it. my proposal (with some tweaks) allows you guys to keep the pet central to the ranger experience, without making the prof too weak as is currently.

and it’s not just AI. overall utility and survivability must be beefed up, at the expense of a great damage reduction. or at least, give us the option to choose dps vs. utility/survivability. pets MELT in WvW, and when they don’t, they bring very little to the table!

Sword – Power
1 Dodge should always override animation.
2 Jumps should be reversed so that the first leaps into combat and the second leaps out of combat
3 Cast time should be reduced so that the evade is easier to time

/Second. I love the style of the Sword, but that #1 ability is just a killer. It needs to allow you to dodge.

Players can just sit back at a safe place while the pets do the work.
This will make pets too overpowered in PvP.

Fair points, to #1, it shouldn’t, because pets lose agro when they “die.” So what would happen if you try this would not be much different than the current situation, you would send the pet out, Pokemon style, and it would start fighting. The enemy eventually kills the pet, as it currently would, and then immediately charges straight at you. The only difference then is that the pet would keep nipping at his heels, dealing its normal damage, but you would be the one taking the enemy’s attacks. Functionally, the only change to that encounter would be that you would have slightly higher DPS at the back end of it. The change is more designed to be useful in a boss battle, where you can send a melee pet in, and even if he dies almost instantly he would keep dealing damage while other players act as the Tank.

To #2, perhaps, I don’t PvP and this was a PvE suggestion. If it’s determined to be definitely too strong for PvP then they could either not implement this feature in PvP, or nerf pet damage a bit in PvP so that even an immortal pet is not too much total DPS.

Game Mode
PvE

Proposal Overview
marksman trait line should be reconsidered,make opening strike more supportive and signets more useful.

Goal of proposal
build diversity

Proposal functionality
1. without being trait of <marksman XI signet of beastmaster>, signets should work on rangers first not pet, the trait<marksman XI> will then benefit both ranger and pet.

2. 3 minor traits of marksman <opening strike> <alpha training> and <precise strike> has little value during long haul fight. Even with grandmaster trait <marksmanXII Remorseless>, the opening strike doesn’t provide enough damage for rangers.
I suggest <Remorseless>’s current effect become default effect of opening strike, and remove the inner cd, the opening strike will stack each foe is killed immediately, and consumed with every critical hit rangers/pets inflict.
The new <remorseless> will reset opening strike every 30 seconds with or without foe killed. This design is for long-hual single target boss fight.
and eagle eye should also affect short bows.

Specific Game Mode: PvP
Proposal Overview: Steal health on poison application
Goal of Proposal: Increase power build survivability
Associated Risks: Would be hard to balance the amount of healing. As most power builds are not focused on poison application it would either be insufficient or to much if a ranger opts for lots of poison application.
Proposal Functionality: New trait in Marksmanship (hopefully the bow traits will be merged or signet of the beastmaster removed to make place for a new trait). When the ranger or its pet applies poison to a foe it additionally steals some health.

Suggested Proposal Format:

Specific Game Mode
All modes

Proposal Overview
Moving Natural Healing to Adept Tier

Goal of Proposal
Increasing overall pet survival through relocating Natural Healing to a more favorable position in the adept tier in an effort to make pet survival less a “problem” for non-beastmaster builds. Minor investments to Beastmastery would allow for pet survival, but not pet DPS output.

Proposal Functionality
Already listed

Associated Risks
Pet’s might not die as soon as they normally would in normal non-BM builds.

PvE

Weapon updates

The most weapons of the ranger aren’t really satisfying damagewise. The sword reaches the highest dps by far. However the sword gets hindered by its clunky playstyle. My suggestions aim towards smoothing the gameplay of the sword and strenghen the other weapons.

Detailed version:

General suggestion

• Increase damage of the most weaponskills by 3% – 10% (exept sword, greatsword #2)
• Give ranged weapons a damagebonus if they hit their target from above
• All skills who are currently rooting you while channeling should be changed, so you can slowly move while channeling

Game Mode:
PvE

Goal of proposal:
To never hear "Rangers put your pet on passive’ again and that advice be sound advice. The Marionette Warden 2 encounter design made a passive pet arguably the most useful pet. Of course Pet AI should not be designed around one encounter but I think that encounter demonstrates the limitations of the binary on/off functionality of Pets.

Proposal Overview:
Expand Pet stances to include something like Passive, Active Offense, and Active Defense.
The Stance would determine how the Pet behaved and what its skill bar included.
The respective skill-bars could be completely different or versions of the same core skills.
Pet Attributes could also change according to the stance.
The choice of skill auto-cast should also be determined by the player.

Proposal Functionality:

If a Pet’s attack generated aggro threatens the success of an encounter or puts its life in too high jeopardy, then the player changes the pet’s stance without losing the benefits of the pet.

Associated Risks:

Increasing the effectiveness and number of bunker builds in PvP
I am sure there are plenty that I can not see.

PvE

Pet update

This aspect is crucial for a class, which relies on it’s pet to deal max. damage.

If ArenaNet manages to switch the AI engine to the client,
I would like to see this happen:

If you’ve played FF12, you may remember the gambitsystem.
Thats exactly how I want to control my pet.
For those who don’t know what I mean:
The gambits where an easy and fast way to “programm” the AI of your characters.
They are arranged according to their hierarchy.

As example: The first instruction (gambit) will be executed as long as the requirement is given (e.g. “retreat when below 20% HP”). If the requirement is not given, the second instruction will be executed as long as its requirement is given (e.g. “attack nearest foe”). So you can not only control how your pet will behave in certain situations but also remap your F1-F3 keys.

However, if ArenaNet can’t fix the AI issues,
the damage component of the pet should be removed. I want to play an archer, I don’t care about the pet that much.

PvE

Spirit updates

I think the spirits should have somewhat better passive effects for the ranger who summoned them. Therewith spirits will get a new, distinguished role. While warrior banners would be still all about groupsupport, ranger spirits would not just offer buffs to the group but also even stronger buffs to the summoner. This change would underline the general direction I want the ranger to evolve: Beeing a lone wolf, with great selfbuff potential but, unlike the warrior, smaller teambuffs.

PvE

Shouts update

Shouts in general dont do enough.

• Search and Rescue has great functionality, but i often end up sacrificing my pet and utility cd to aoes without getting a rez
• Guard and Protect Me are blatantly underpowered and need reworks
• Sic’ Em is situational, but using it as a preventative measure is weak and allowing it to be a countermeasure would give it a much nicer niche
• RaO and HaO have effects similar to what id expect from a shout, but they dont have a traitable classification

Forgive me if this is rude, but what exactly is the point of insisting that a proposal be tied to a particular game mode in a profession balance thread? Any substantial change to the profession will affect everything, and we’ve already been told repeatedly that ArenaNet does not want to split skills between the three game modes. Most posts here already read PvX because their players correctly understand this; I saw at least one saying “PvP if I have to choose” which is in the same spirit. There may be minor balance tweaks proposed that would involve small splits between sPvP and PvE/WvW mechanics, but those would affect all game types as well.

There’s no good reason to use game mode in this thread. It just takes up space. Leave it out.

Specific Game Mode
PvE (though it would apply to all modes)

Proposal Overview
Redesign the pet system:

• Make the petless Ranger the default one.
• Remove the pet swap mechanic (f4 now stows the pet if out of combat).
• Buff the Rangers base (physical) damage to compensate.
• Redirect most of the pet specific buffs to the Ranger (e.g. Signets).
• Slightly nerf pet sustain (Signet of the Wild + Natural Healing).

Goal of Proposal
Instead of being an inherently nerfed class to compensate for the “100%” uptime of the pet, the Ranger now does not have to rely on AI as a crutch but has to decide when to release their pet.

Proposal Functionality

In large scale or boss encounters, instead of dying instantly, the pet can be kept stowed without hurting the Rangers DPS drastically untill the player decides to release it. Instead of struggling to keep the pet alive, finding the right moment to release the it will become the main challange.

In PvP enemy pets are largely ignored, since they take a considerable amount of effort to take down and a dying pet can be quickly switched out (f4) for little to no consequences for the ranger. If the pet cannot be switched out after it has been release, targeting it can shut down the Rangers class mechanic for 60 seconds, without crippeling the whole class.

Associated Risks
Finding the sweet spot where Ranger alone does enough damage to keep up with other classes, but Ranger + pet won’t become broken while the pet is out might take some iterations.
Also since a lot of traits and skills are tied to the pet the whole system might have to be rebuild from scratch.

Game mode: PvX

Improving Player Input for Pet Control
I would suggest starting with the profession’s primary mechanic, while it being the pet, it is tied to F1-4 for player input. (With the exception of “Guard!”, which is arguably used mostly to trigger Nature’s Voice with.)

F1 Changed to Toggle Attack- and Passive Mode
If the pet is ordered to attack and you have the same target, or no target at all selected, it should call for a retreat. If you change target it would toggle attack. If you require the pet to retreat in such a situation, you would simply press it twice. Important to note is that it should be visible on the pet UI whether the pet is currently attacking or in passive mode.

F2 Reaction Time
Making the F2 command force the pet to first cancel the current skill order, and only then triggering the actual skill, would go a long way to resolve issues with pets.

F3 “Guard!”
With my suggestion for the F1 ability, an alternate retreat option is no longer necessary (unless you are with your pet in close range.) Yet when you want the pet to stay out of the line of fire, you would have to equip “Guard!” Since the pet is no utility skill, but rather the profession’s primary mechanic, this is unacceptable. Such control should be tied to the profession inherently, if anything.

In-Combat Pet Stowing
In some cases, it is simply not desired to have your pet out. For example, in the Jade Maw fractal map, it actually hinders the team’s progress. Being able to stow your pet in-combat should come with some sort of penalty, like a cool-down time, to prevent abuse by simply stowing your pet whenever there is a big hit incoming.

Goal of Proposal
Improving the way the pet reacts to player input would give the player a better sense of control and it would allow the profession a higher skill ceiling, while keeping the basics of pet control that are currently in-game intact.

Proposal Functionality
While it would require a complete overhaul of the pet commands, I think it would go a long way to make the Ranger viable in places where the pet is currently not.

Associated Risks
Edit:"Guard!" Would require a functionality change, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Nuzt.7894:

Allie Murdock.8152:

barabajaga.7652:

I know that im out of topic here and not using the format proposal and i apologize for it ,but before posting any ideas about the ranger and having into consideration that this will be read by some dev ,i will like to ask something :

Would you ever (or have you) considered the removal of the pet ,knowing how borked the ai is ,and as anet says ,it can not be reworked because its tied to mob ai?

Or would you consider split the class in to two, ranger/beastmaster ,and rework the pet ai from the ground.

Again sorry for the offtopic and thx for any possible answer.

Removing the pet was something that was discussed in initial design of the class, but it is such an integral part of the Ranger’s design and philosophy.

There might be some ways that we can redesign the pet and it’s AI, but those are big projects. For the time being, we are happy to take any suggestions regarding the pet.

I can see your concern here but, the option to have the pet as such an integral part of the class is one of the largest faults of the class. Could it not be optional to have the pet as an option, basically if you spec wilderness survival your pet becomes a larger part of the class, if you choose to spec in something different to be more valuable to your group then either you don’t have the pet or it has minimal impact on the class.

That is completely valid feedback that I will relay to the designers. Thanks for taking the time to share it!

Thankyou, oh and what I meant was Beast Mastery or whtever the pet line is called, not wilderness survival ;p

Alcyone.8695:

Forgive me if this is rude, but what exactly is the point of insisting that a proposal be tied to a particular game mode in a profession balance thread? Any substantial change to the profession will affect everything, and we’ve already been told repeatedly that ArenaNet does not want to split skills between the three game modes. Most posts here already read PvX because their players correctly understand this; I saw at least one saying “PvP if I have to choose” which is in the same spirit. There may be minor balance tweaks proposed that would involve small splits between sPvP and PvE/WvW mechanics, but those would affect all game types as well.

There’s no good reason to use game mode in this thread. It just takes up space. Leave it out.

Some people want to balance their suggestion over PvE. Some people want to balance over PvP.

For example, someone might say return Hunter shot as before, which is that it gives 5 stacks of vulnerability. Why? Because it is a buff to PvE. Stealth is not that great in PvE, but strong in PvP.

Game Mode: PvE+WvW

• Pets need to become a lot more reliable. The best way to achieve this is to split the Juvenile Pets from the NPC Animal group. Make them a separate group so any change there will not affect the whole animal kingdom of Tyria.
• Pets need innate resistance to random AoE (75%) with a trait in BM to go up to 95%.
• Pets need better pathfinding (if possible) and faster animations.
• Pets need to hit more reliably. Suggestions: larger radius, cleave, attack while moving.
• Pets need to have gap-closers like leap, pounce, swoop etc.
• Pet leash range needs to be increased a bit (3000).
• Pets need to be right next to you when you are standing still, not 30 feet away from you (and dying in random AoE’s because of it).
• Pets need to have their own dodge bar with parameters when to use them.
• Pet F2 needs to fire the moment I press the button; not 3-6s later (if it works at all).
• Pet scaling. Pets need to get stat bonuses depending on your gear. Now the ascended power creep sets in but pets never grow with the new stats.
• Consideration: Removal of the pet swap mechanic (and traits revolving around swapping pets like Loud Whistle). Instead Rangers could focus around choosing only one pet and F4 can then be changed to function as a Revive Pet channeled ability. That way a defeated pet can be brought back into the fight, instead of punishing the Ranger with a 60s CD because the pet died in a heartbeat due to nonexistent AI.
• A trait in BM which allows Pets to radiate an aura offering a bonus to allies depending on the pet family (like Toughness aura when using a Bear).
• Add more pets for Rangers to tame (like Dolphins, Rock Dogs, Wind Riders etc.)
• Trait lines need work. For instance Trap traits need to go in Wilderness Survival and traits like Martial Mastery should go in Skirmishing.
• Too many weak traits only affecting pets!
• Signet actives need to affect both Ranger and Pet by default!
• With the above change Signet of the Beastmaster can become: “Retain passive effects of signets when activating them”
• Shouts should have been an AI mode, not a utility. The effects are not meaningful enough to be worth a utility slot. S&R for instance is a useless shout as it is prone to fail at random. Other shouts also offer only minimal effects.
• Rangers would be perfect for anti-stealth Counter Play. As such I suggest a Trap that works like the WvW Stealth Disruptor Trap (but on a smaller scale) to flush out stealthed opponents. Easy to implement as the mechanics are already available.
• Rangers need more abilities that benefit his allies. Currently Rangers are shunned everywhere because they offer nothing to the team that another class can’t do much better. We need to see ‘LF1M Ranger’ some day. Suggestions: Shouts with AoE benefits and Spirits that offer their boons all the time (not 35-70% of the time). Guardian shouts and Warrior shouts+banners are much more useful because Ranger Shouts only affect the pet and Spirits are just not reliable and die too easily.
• Arrows should pierce by default. We’re unparalelled archers and such, but we don’t feel like it atm. Heck, Warrior and Thief are more useful with a bow than Rangers at present time. Rangers should have been the ones with abilities like double shot and AoE effect arrows.
• Arrows should fly faster. The projectiles are still moving too slow and can easily miss a target with a simple sidestep. This is extremely noticeable on the LB.
• Change Eagle Eye trait to include SB range increase to 1200.
• Change Signet of the Hunt active. Suggestion, have it give Camouflage and Swiftness (like Wintersday Scout ability). That way Rangers can choose to use the Camouflage for an attack preparation (or to try and hide briefly); or use the Swiftness to try and gain/cover distance.
• Change the ‘Animal Cruelty’ utilities and traits that sacrifice/torment your pet. The Ranger is a class that has to rely on his animal companion for ~30% damage. But what I find odd about that is that the Ranger is also the only class that actively tries to kill his own pet all the time through his own utilities and traits!

Some quick suggestions to stop ‘Animal Cruelty’:

1. Shared Anquish – Change to “Incoming disabling conditions are transferred to your Foe instead.”
   Alternate suggestion: “Incoming disabling conditions Entangle your Foe.”
2. Empathic Bond – Change to “Periodically cure conditions from you and your pet.”
3. “Protect Me” – Change this to tranfer and block incoming damage (a la Shield Stance) for the duration.
4. Signet of Renewal Active – Change to “Cure conditions from yourself, your pet and nearby allies”