Guild Wars 2

Thank you for keeping us in the loop, Ms. Murdock.

Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes.
Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do.

I really do like the idea of the Pet becoming the point of origin for the Buffs like ‘Spirit of Frost’ and the Active effects like ‘Cold Snap’

• It’s just a much better product ‘straight out of the box’ without any trait investment, which is something it’s always lacked as a utility line.
• It gives you all the mobility advantages of having Spirits Unbound as a default behavior.
• You don’t face Spirits Unbound’s downside of having to move yourself to wrangle obnoxious pathing out of AOEs or being skittish about entering melee to avoid cleave.
• Native mobility and being housed by a much sturdier pet also makes it much easier to use the Actives outside of bunkering situations. Which is, let’s be real here, most situations.
• Makes the counterplay for Spirits destroying the Pet instead of carpeting you with an AOE. Splitting up your opponent’s offensive is an important function of pets that’s underutilized in the PvP of this game.

I hope they don’t remove barrage from the Longbow.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Beastmastery & Pets:

1. Pets need stat scaling.
   1. Stats could scale based on the Ranger’s stats and the pet’s family, with a weight on specific stats based on the individual pet
   2. Beastmastery should improve the pet stat scaling.
2. Pets should take less damage from AoE and one-shot mechanics.
   1. Pets should take 30% damage from AoEs, be immune to one shot mechanics and take 25% damage from cleaves when not the selected target.
3. Pets can’t keep up in combat.
   1. Melee range should be increased to 600 to accommodate the “run>stop>begin attack>cancel attack>run>stop” type mechanics you see throughout the game.
   2. Increase pet movement speed by 10-15%. Replace Agility Training with Vigorous training
   3. Pets have a hard time sticking to their target because they can’t attack and move at the same time. Increasing their speed could help increase their damage by just allowing them to keep up with their target.
   4. Allow pets to attack while moving.

Feedback 2:
I think that while the changes on how the ranger pet interact with AoE and immunity to mechanic would be a much needed quality of life change (that also doesn’t limit future development of content). However I could see it causing a bit of friction between rangers and mesmers (phantasms and clone), nercomancers (minion) and elementalist (elemental) pushing for similar quality of life changes.

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

Ltomato.8649:

What I’m really trying to get across is how turning a longbow into a longer-range shortbow clone won’t help at all. It doesn’t prevent stacking, and if anything, makes it less useful when stacking.

It wont solve stacking and it wont turn the weapon into a speedrun-weapon. But it would help alot in WvW since every class can close the distance in splitseconds.

The same is true for all single-target targeted ranged weapons. I’ve done fine in WvW with longbow- I don’t play WvW and PvP as often as PvE, but I’ve played a bit of both. (Got my season 1 WvW chest pretty much solo, and have a handful of general PvP matches won on Ranger)

There’s a lot that Longbow rangers can do, and there are more creative and fun ways to solve the issues with them than just turning it into a cripple/immo kiter.

This;

6.X. Eagle Eye – Include shortbow. Provides 200 range and +5% damage on longbow and harpoon gun. (no range bonus for shortbow)

Looks to be the end of the Shortbow. It will cease to be used. A Dagger can be thrown farther than a Shortbow can shoot. Without the option to increase range, and coupled
with these other changes, the weapon becomes pointless, reduces build options, forces players into maximum range or melee, and eliminates the “middle game” that is where a Ranger shines. That opportunity to prioritize targets on the fly and position properly, strike first, apply stacks, gain the next proper positioning for maximum damage, before or during closing, is the best way to make up for the fact that we are rooted with our best DPS weapon in melee , in medium armor.
The range loss has crippled the weapons effectiveness at this middle range where Rangers need it most.
I fail to understand why we can’t we have two ranged weapons, as Rangers, that work for long range, or, as a way to prepare for melee in medium armor, and have enough range available to accomplish it if we spec for it.

Remember to add the one about making it so that pets can continue to do damage while “dead”. They’ve already said they don’t want to make pets immune to the sort of attacks that will always kill them if they aren’t, so the only solution is to keep them useful while dead.

I know this isn’t the correct format, but I can’t agree with the change on Sword skill #2 being inverted. The whole purpose of it is to break off the chain and disengage from combat via a dodge or sorts. If you make it so that you have to jump forward first, it will most likely get alot of people killed in WvW moreso than going backwards.

This is my only complaint for this CDI.

can pets level up like your character please. It allows more depth to the game. Not only do they level by slowly scale in size as well.

It gives rangers something else to do, like level up all their pets… adds to the longevity of the toon.

Thank you for the update and summary Allie!!!

Loyo.8526:

I know this isn’t the correct format, but I can’t agree with the change on Sword skill #2 being inverted. The whole purpose of it is to break off the chain and disengage from combat via a dodge or sorts. If you make it so that you have to jump forward first, it will most likely get alot of people killed in WvW moreso than going backwards.

This is my only complaint for this CDI.

It would be a very different feel for the skills. I was talking to a friend a few weeks back when she finally got the inverted “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” reference with that skill.

Substance E.4852:

Flytrap.8075:

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

McWolfy.5924:

Warriors have +15% dmg and crit trait if not using the adrenalin skill. We losing dmg because the pet…

Akisame.9508:

Ranger should be set up the same way with pets. Ranger’s should have 100% control of their damage and the pet, while alive, should be able to deal an extra 15% damage.

SkiTz.4590:

Give rangers 100% of the damage, not this useless 70:30 split with our pet

wolfyrik.2017:

If ANET decided againsts Aspects/stow ultimately, I’d like to see this approach instead. I fail to see how a pet that can barely hit would be overpowered when wielded by a charater with 100% of it’s damage out put intact.

RoyalPredator.9163:

I would like to say;
100% Ranger DMG, X% Pet dmg ABOVE it. Control it well for effectiveness!

Gotejjeken.1267:

Not seeing a damage rebalance between pet and ranger is a bit worrying. I don’t want my pet doing more damage, or scaling with me. I want my pet to be a pretty utility skill. Give me 80% of the damage and a super responsive F2 from my pet, should solve every AI issue you have.

Tryxtr.6295:

1. The damage split is supposedly 70% / 30% between ranger and pet. Change that to 85% / 15%

Aidenwolf.5964:

What I think got missed in the pile was the idea that pet damage should be rebalanced so that they no longer draw 30% of our damage from us in the first place. All other classes core mechanics add to base damage where as rangers loose almost a third of our player damage in order to have an AI run around with us. If our pets hit every time and are never dead, we just get to 100% base damage of every other class capping us at 100% a warrior hits 115% with his/her core mechanic.

Much needed, often requested. Please ArenaNet, many want it and you could even keep your pets.

So… you and a few others have specifically said that you love having a pet around, but at the same time, you want ANet to nerf pet damage and put more of it on to Ranger?

I mean, I’m all in favor of giving Ranger more damage, but I’m just confused why you’d want a pet in the first place if its damage is going to be even more pathetic. It’s entirely counter-intuitive.

Isolating a portion of our damage onto a separate entity that can be killed is counter productive in PvE and WvW where aoe and instagib are too rampant to expect the pet to live long enough to make any impact.

Giving the player all the damage and downgrading the pet to a walking CC/Boon Dispenser is the best option. Changing BM to a system that increases pet damage in exchange for player damage is all that is needed.

I would rather see pet death cooldown tied to BM instead of ‘the more you spec into BM the more damage your pet does and the less you do’ as pets have terrible survivability without speccing into BM.

As for why I want the pet, pets are the main separating factor for rangers, however I see my pet as a distraction more than a serious method of dealing damage. Chip damage and utility is fine, but I’d rather not leave 40-50% of my damage to an AI.

That being said, as I mentioned before, I would go as far as to make the pet even more basic with swappable F2 skills. That way we are not creating pet tiers based on F2.

as much as I like the sword changes in PvE I still see a problem
often when running dungeons and world events we fight packs of mobs, and if you dont have any target selected and hit 1 on ur sword, u bounce around the area and can get in trouble/ ruin the dungeon for your party.
I really think the leap from sword 1 should be removed.

sorry for my english

Loyo.8526:

I know this isn’t the correct format, but I can’t agree with the change on Sword skill #2 being inverted. The whole purpose of it is to break off the chain and disengage from combat via a dodge or sorts. If you make it so that you have to jump forward first, it will most likely get alot of people killed in WvW moreso than going backwards.

This is my only complaint for this CDI.

I do agree using the dodge backward in a small scale fight is handy, for delayed jump forward or breathing room for a heal.

The problem comes (and this is mainly a WvW issue) when you have to run. See a zerg coming? Hit the button and dodge back…great. Facing the wrong way? Uh oh, guess who is jumping right into the zerg? Also along the same lines is fighting near a cliff…evading forward is a lot easier to judge if you are going to fly off…evading backward and you could kill yourself pretty easily.

So that’s why I am with forward forward dodges. If you go forward, you can see where you are going and still have the room to breathe. You can either go forward again to get more room, or turn and charge back (or any other direction really). This way you can always see where you are going and what is around you.

Specific Game Mode
PvE

Proposal Overview
Potential Longbow Skill Changes (non-overhaul)

Goal of Proposal
Many players feel that the Longbow is an underwhelming weapon. I am offering some non-overhaul skill tweaks, since I (as someone who has put waaaay too much time into longbow ranger) believe that the basic design mechanics of the longbow are sound, unique, and engaging.

Proposal Functionality
s1- Long Range Shot: Increase projectile speed to allow more reliable hits against enemies, as this is a targeted skill and very easy to walk out of the way of at > 1200 range. Doesn’t need to be undodge-able, just more reliable.
: Alternatively- Decrease channel time. The skill would feel more reactive and less “clunky”.

s2- Rapid Fire: Decrease channel time by 1 second while maintaining the damage output. This would make the skill a bit more of a burst of damage, as well as maintaining a higher concentration of vulnerability. (Low cooldown and still comparatively long channel time to damage still allows this to be considered “sustained damage”)

s3-Hunter’s Shot: In addition to current functionality, add 1/2 second of evade on use. This would give the skill more of a use of an escape, providing a better feeling of reactionary dodging.
: Alternatively- In addition to current functionality, add Apply Revealed on target on hit. This would allow Rangers to effectively counter stealth.

s4- Point Blank Shot: Unblockable/Unreflectable. Makes this skill more of a failsafe, and actually effective against enemies that are looming in upon the ranger that may be reflecting projectiles or have some sort of block. Cooldown could be increased to 15 seconds to counteract a very powerful skill.
:Alternatively- Increase base range to 1200. Makes a little less sense since it’s no longer “point-blank”, but maintains the range as other longbow attacks, making it less clunky to use.

s5- Barrage: Buff into more of a projectile storm than an AoE, ala Ice Bow’s skill 4. This would increase damage and enemies affected, which seems fitting for its long cooldown and rooted channel.
:Alternatively- Allow movement while channeling. Evens out the risk/reward balance for using the skill.
:Alternatively- Immobilizes enemies hit by the first barrage or entering the AoE for 1 second. Makes the skill more useful even if the entire channel isn’t launched.

Associated Risks
The skill additions I’m suggesting are very strong. The Longbow is currently still underestimated, and too much tweaking could easily push it over the edge. Just two or three of these suggested skill additions would improve longbow ranger quality of life greatly.

All of them might be a bit much, but very, very fun.

These would also impact PvP and WvW, especially s3 alternative and my suggestions for s5.

Loyo.8526:

I know this isn’t the correct format, but I can’t agree with the change on Sword skill #2 being inverted. The whole purpose of it is to break off the chain and disengage from combat via a dodge or sorts. If you make it so that you have to jump forward first, it will most likely get alot of people killed in WvW moreso than going backwards.

This is my only complaint for this CDI.

I have to agree here, sword is an amazing weapon allowing you to stick to the target, evade, reposition, break off and get back in, kinda like boxing. I would’t like to see it change at all mechanics wise.

Having said that, there is a change to sword #2 that could improve it whilst still fitting in with the weapons theme. Sword #2 is about disengauging for a half time rest, oranges and a cup of tea ( or a “Time-out” I believe the Americans call it):

Sword #2 Hornet Sting. Stab your foe, then evade backward.
Increase time Monarch’s Leap is on skillbar by a few seconds (to 5), while Monarch’s Leap is on the skillbar, the ranger heals for a small amount per pulse and/or removes a condition.
Add a 3s fury to Monarch’s leap

- You break off, and rejoin the fight having refocused.

Counter play:
The heal pulse could have to be traited
Allowing the full 5 seconds to elapse without Monarch’s leap being activated causes the ranger to gain the 3s cripple

QoL

I am against any perma stowing of the pet, while the aspect idea is kinda cool, the guild wars ranger is a minion class, the pet is the key mechanic of that class, the pet should be fixed, not discarded.
I don’t want to be one of those guys that tell you to reroll, but c’mon, its been 20 months, why are you still a ranger if you hate the pet that much.

Allie Murdock.8152:

3. Pets can’t keep up in combat.

1. Melee range should be increased to 600 to accommodate the “run>stop>begin attack>cancel attack>run>stop” type mechanics you see throughout the game.

the only thing I am worried about with that is would they do the same thing that they currently do now just at the edge of the 600 range?
would it be possible to give pets a lunge in their attacks if said attacks are melee?

Flytrap.8075:

Ltomato.8649:

I may be alone in this…

I honestly think you are.

Longbow is currently super clunky and doesn’t really do that great of a job of fulfilling its niche; the proposed changes would help address these issues.

No, I like the Longbow as the concept stands currently. I just think it could fill the role of “long range weapon” better for us if it had more punch to its attacks which are supposed to have teeth.

Flytrap.8075:

So… you and a few others have specifically said that you love having a pet around, but at the same time, you want ANet to nerf pet damage and put more of it on to Ranger?

I mean, I’m all in favor of giving Ranger more damage, but I’m just confused why you’d want a pet in the first place if its damage is going to be even more pathetic. It’s entirely counter-intuitive.

I just think it’s hilarious that self-proclaimed pet supporters are looking to move the pet’s damage onto the Ranger.

Having a pet buff and actually using a pet are not mutually exclusive ideas.

An extremely effective and yet quick fix would be to give passive pets an aura buff for the ranger so that if pets are on passive and not attacking, the ranger’s damage goes up. Like the damage from the pet is folded back into the toon. The moment you send your pet out, then you divest the damage. Call it Aura of the Hunt on the buff bar or something.

There are perfectly good times to use a pet in pvp, like using them for diversions, harrassment etc. But there are times when pets are utterly useless, like when you’re camping your tower against attackers or against a zerg. So yes, I want a buff, but I don’t want to get rid of the pet all together either.

If you understand what the fundamental problem is, you’d realize passive buff is the only fix there is. Because “fixing pet AI” involves you getting more damage sources but the target still only has the current number of dodges and mitigation. So it’s basically you’re asking for free hits that are automated. That should never happen in a pvp game.

ALL viable solutions involve this common theme: folding most, if not all of the damage back into the toon and away from the pet, and the pet should only be used for utility or as a stance that gets switched into.

The quicker people, including Anet, gets this, the quicker this class gets fixed.

Gotejjeken.1267:

Loyo.8526:

I know this isn’t the correct format, but I can’t agree with the change on Sword skill #2 being inverted. The whole purpose of it is to break off the chain and disengage from combat via a dodge or sorts. If you make it so that you have to jump forward first, it will most likely get alot of people killed in WvW moreso than going backwards.

This is my only complaint for this CDI.

I do agree using the dodge backward in a small scale fight is handy, for delayed jump forward or breathing room for a heal.

The problem comes (and this is mainly a WvW issue) when you have to run. See a zerg coming? Hit the button and dodge back…great. Facing the wrong way? Uh oh, guess who is jumping right into the zerg? Also along the same lines is fighting near a cliff…evading forward is a lot easier to judge if you are going to fly off…evading backward and you could kill yourself pretty easily.

So that’s why I am with forward forward dodges. If you go forward, you can see where you are going and still have the room to breathe. You can either go forward again to get more room, or turn and charge back (or any other direction really). This way you can always see where you are going and what is around you.

It would make it more of an evade weapon, which might mean some kind of cd nerf like some infamous Ele skill?
it’s backward/forward format was ok with me for three reasons
1) jump back = get a better Idea of what the big picture it / select appropriate target and jump forward OR turn aroud and flee
2) How would damage be alloted with a jump forward/forward or forward/backward?
I see sword mostly as a 1v1 option, the vx option being the GS… would I deal damage on each jump? how would it work as a “get out of there” option?
I just do not see the point of a second jump after the forward, would it be back or forward…
3) backward/forward is not QQ’d about for evade builds because it demands mastery.
(LR/S2/turn/s2/switch/GS3… even war can’t catch up with that….)

About not knowing what is behind the ranger… Other than situational awareness : Use #3 when on the side of a cliff to get behind your target, then #2 to jump to safety?

Other note :
About #1 jump, select target? It is something that makes that weapon unique. Yes to be able dodge through the animations, but no to over simplify it. Not sticking to target would be a nerf to that weapon in WvW, in PvP and in many PvE instances…

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Flytrap.8075:

Ltomato.8649:

I may be alone in this…

I honestly think you are.

Longbow is currently super clunky and doesn’t really do that great of a job of fulfilling its niche; the proposed changes would help address these issues.

No, I like the Longbow as the concept stands currently. I just think it could fill the role of “long range weapon” better for us if it had more punch to its attacks which are supposed to have teeth.

Yep! I made post a bit farther up this page in which I detail a few ideas to give longbow skills some more bite! Give it a +1 if you like em!

Loyo.8526:

I know this isn’t the correct format, but I can’t agree with the change on Sword skill #2 being inverted. The whole purpose of it is to break off the chain and disengage from combat via a dodge or sorts. If you make it so that you have to jump forward first, it will most likely get alot of people killed in WvW moreso than going backwards.

This is my only complaint for this CDI.

I honestly would welcome it with open arms. If sword auto is given the interruptibility it needs, there’d be no need for that extra dodge, and you could simply chain both skills to get the backward leap, then wait for the cooldown, then leap back in.

The advantage that swapping the order would give in return would be added versatility in that not only would it be a nice gap closer, but it could also help provide the ranger with added mobility by giving it an infiltrator’s strike type feel where you can hop in and out of melee range very quickly.

Aidenwolf.5964:

Allie Murdock.8152:

Also, you guys can’t see this due to the limitations of formatting on our forums, but a lot of these points were made by many of you guys. As such, they are much more emphasized in the email threads and discussions we have internally.

First, thank you for your summary. What I think got missed in the pile was the idea that pet damage should be rebalanced so that they no longer draw 30% of our damage from us in the first place. All other classes core mechanics add to base damage where as rangers loose almost a third of our player damage in order to have an AI run around with us. If our pets hit every time and are never dead, we just get to 100% base damage of every other class capping us at 100% a warrior hits 115% with his/her core mechanic.

This does not take into account the loss of gear stats on the pet which is significant.

this is completely false, all classes are balanced with their class mechanics in mind.
A mesmer isnt doing high level dmg competitive with other dps classes without phantasms or conditions without its clones. Necro base power on skills is lower even on its dps skills because they consider condition/minions in their max dps. Elementalists skills are tied to swapping elements, and they specifically place finishers and AOE in different places to promote swapping. Theif inititative totally changes how and what skills get dmg, and its generally balanced around initiative costs. Every classes mechanic is figured into their DPS.

Game Mode: PvP

Goal: These changes that Im suggesting is to fit ANet’s vision of a Ranger and its Pets in game and to provide a clear understanding of the the term Skirmishers through its trait lines. Some of these traits are inspired from Mesmers, Guardians, and GW1 Ranger.

Function: As I mentioned before in CDI (page 1; please look at my first post before you comment about these wild changes) Skirmishing should focus on weapon switching, stuns, dazes, mobility in combat, and harassment to an enemy.

Overview: trait line over all rework provided that Skirmishing is still : Precision and Critical Damage

Traits Rework

Revised Adept: Tail Wind – Provides 20% bonus movement speed to you and your pet while in combat. (like Engineer trait)
Revised Master: Furious Grip – Provides fury (9s) while switching weapons in combat. (duration is increased from 5 secs)
New Grandmaster: Spotter – Nearby allies in 600 radius, gain +5% increase critical chance and +3% critical damage. (like Guardian trait)

Adept: I. Pet’s Prowess – Pet’s do 30% more critical damage.

Adept: II. Sharpened Edges – 66% chance to cause bleeding (2s) on critical hits.

New Adept: III. Whirling Defense – create Whirling Defense while reviving an ally. (like Mesmer & Guardian trait)

Revised Adept: IV. Primal Reflexes – Gain vigor (5s) when you are struct by critical hit. (reduce cd: 10s)

Revised Adept: V. Companion’s Might – Critical hits grants might (3s) to your allies in a 600 radius. (like Guardian Trait)

New Adept: VI. Called Strike – Inflicts 3 vulnerability (7s) when you interrupt a foe. (like Mesmer Trait)

New Master: VII. Beastial Mauling – Inflicts Daze (2s) whenever your pet interrupts a foe. (GW1)

New Master: VIII. Cleansing Winds – Switching weapons in combat cleanses 1 condition for you and your pet.

Revised Master: IX. Honed Axes – Increased # power while wielding an Axe. Reduces recharge on Axe skills. (like Mesmer trait)

Revised Master: X. Quick Draw – Reduces recharge on Shortbow, Longbow, and Harpoon Gun skills.

New Grandmaster: XI. Punishing Strike – Deals # damage whenever you and your pet interrupts a foe. (like Mesmer Trait)

New Grandmaster: XII. Magebane Strike – Switching weapons in combat inflicts Daze (1s) to your foe on your next attack. Dazes and Stuns inflicted by you and your pet last longer. (GW1)

Note: Again Im trying to make fair changes here in all game modes because I do play them all with my Ranger just to give the Devs a productive read and show that im not biased, before you comment about these wild changes look at my first posts on page 1.

I have a sinking feeling that rangers in WvW are going to get the short end of the stick because the conditions there are so different.

Evasive Purity: I like evasive purity being able to remove poison specifically… when I go tanky much of my tankiness comes from passive and active regen boosted by Healing Power. Poison really hurts our ability to heal ourselves and our pet. Besides all the poison from players, we also have to deal with walls of treb poison.

Spirits attached to pet: It takes a massive investment to give pets in WvW any survivability in zergs, and if your utilities are spirit skills and half your traits are for spirits… your pet won’t have the survivability required even with a 30% aoe damage reduction… unless maybe if you only use bears or only keep your pet on passive the whole time. Right now I can use any pet I want with my pew-pew spirit support build and it doesn’t matter if it dies, I’m still doing decent damage and providing aoe support.

Tail Wind: 20% movement speed is not enough to do any good in WvW. Right now I often put 5 points in Skirmishing just to get periodic Swiftness for me and my pet and that is on top of always taking either Signet of the Hunt or Storm Spirit for 25-33%. This 20% idea would make the trait completely useless for people who need more, and we need more.

Sure the pet hitting more and being resistant to aoe attacks would help, they would also make pets something the enemy is less likely to avoid and something they are more likely to kill which cuts off our utility and our utility skills. At the end of the day the WvW crowd who have the hardest time keeping their pets alive will probably be the ones encouraged to use the stowed pet aura option if it happens. That’s not what I want.

It takes a massive investment to give pets in WvW any survivability in zergs, and if your utilities are spirit skills and half your traits are for spirits…

Just to be clear,
I don’t think anybody’s happy with pet’s ability to scale with encounter size.
That’s a very important problem that needs to be resolved for it’s own sake, apart from what does or doesn’t happen with utilities/traits.

ZamirHuang.3895:

I hope they don’t remove barrage from the Longbow.

Why? I think it is a horrible skill.
The recharge is too high, the duration/dmg to slow for a skill that can pretty much get you killed in WvW for 2 reasons, not being mobile and retal. . If you want to cripple people you are better of using muddy terrain right now.

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

Ltomato.8649:

Allie Murdock.8152:

X. Eagle Eye – Include shortbow. Provides 200 range and +5% damage on longbow and harpoon gun. (no range bonus for shortbow)

Why the change from the current 300 range to 200? Thieves can already steal as far, and engineers can throw grenades as far. This doesn’t make sense.

This must be a typo, it simply must be. Otherwise I would lose my faith in ArenaNet as a player.

Yeah thats a typo, actually all those PVE changes that Allie mentioned are all my suggestions was at work so i had typos, except for that Axe changes. Range is still 300 not 200 on Eagle Eye and Remorseless trait is still the same when you gain stealth making vulnerability more frequent than just opening in combat.

[quote=3727854;Allie Murdock.8152:

Weapons:

1. Ranger weapon sets are currently lacking in focus and should be redesigned so that weapon selection synergizes with specific playstyles.
   1. Longbow: Reward max range and synergize with pet.
      1. Vulnerability instead of damage increase with range (s1), cripple (s2), immobilize (s3), knockdown (s5)
      2. Pet might (s3), swiftness (s2), regen (s5)
   2. Shortbow: Condition Damage
      1. Burning (s3), Torment (s4), s3 should be s5 w/ leapback + confusion
   3. Sword: Power
      1. Dodge overrides animation (s1), s2 jumps reversed (first goes in, second goes out), s3 cast time reduced to better time evades
   4. Warhorn: Group/Pet buffs
      1. s4 gives Protection, Regen and Vigor to nearby allies
   5. Torch: Condition application
      1. S4 sets location of target on fire (small aoe), s5 causes burning and blindness
   6. Axe: Multiple target/power
      1. Base damage could be increased slightly
      2. S3 causes chill at target location (small aoe), s5 shouldn’t cancel movement, but speed could be

PvP
General:

1. Some changes to Axe should be made to make it a more desirable weapon.
   1. Ricochet – Bounce your axe between foes, dealing heavy damage to the first target, and reduced damage to subsequent targets. [Vulnerability x2] 5s (With a buff to the base damage)
   2. Splitblade – Throw a spread pattern of five whirling axes that bleeds foes and grants swiftness if foes are hit. [Bleeding x5] 6.25s and *[Swiftness] 5s
   3. Winter’s Bite – Throw an axe that removes a two boons. Your pet’s next attack inflicts Chilled. [Chilled] 3.25s (Increase the base damage by a bit)
      Beastmastery & Pets:
2. Pets are overpowered in condition builds
   1. Cats give condition builds high direct damage burst, while direct damage builds don’t get stronger with different pets.
      [/quote]

if you would implement this, it would srsly suck, because then the ranger would be there without any 1h condition weapon. this is why i would like you to either introduce the pistol as condition weapon or rework the axe so that it becomes a condition weapon

Substance E.4852:

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. VII. Spotter – Should be moved to Skirmishing as Gradmaster minor.
   1. Rework to 5% crit chance & 3% crit damage
2. Change VII to Hunter’s Tactics – +3% increase damage on disabled enemies (stun/daze/knockdown/fear/immob)

Not sure who suggested this but unless “Hunter’s Tactics” is also an aura like Spotter or other classes’ auras, then this is a horrible tradeoff if we are to ever be more desirable in WvW. Crit chance and damage is virtually useless to a zerg of PVT heavies whereas a damage buff on a stuned target is a HUGE buff to the hammer train meta. Rangers go from the butt of every WvW joke to almost a must have for zerg combat. It’s just that easy to fix us.

We lose 2% crit chance and have it moved up a tier and to a different tree for something that is just another highly circumstantial trait that relies on our pets to land their very short duration stuns for us.

Im the one who made all of those PVE suggestions mentioned by Allie actually. If you can’t get your head around the changes and why these changes, sorry but you need to play more Ranger bro.

BlackRose.1247:

Allie Murdock.8152:

Weapons:

1. Ranger weapon sets are currently lacking in focus and should be redesigned so that weapon selection synergizes with specific playstyles.
   1. Longbow: Reward max range and synergize with pet.
      1. Vulnerability instead of damage increase with range (s1), cripple (s2), immobilize (s3), knockdown (s5)
      2. Pet might (s3), swiftness (s2), regen (s5)
   2. Shortbow: Condition Damage
      1. Burning (s3), Torment (s4), s3 should be s5 w/ leapback + confusion
   3. Sword: Power
      1. Dodge overrides animation (s1), s2 jumps reversed (first goes in, second goes out), s3 cast time reduced to better time evades
   4. Warhorn: Group/Pet buffs
      1. s4 gives Protection, Regen and Vigor to nearby allies
   5. Torch: Condition application
      1. S4 sets location of target on fire (small aoe), s5 causes burning and blindness
   6. Axe: Multiple target/power
      1. Base damage could be increased slightly
      2. S3 causes chill at target location (small aoe), s5 shouldn’t cancel movement, but speed could be

PvP
General:

1. Some changes to Axe should be made to make it a more desirable weapon.
   1. Ricochet – Bounce your axe between foes, dealing heavy damage to the first target, and reduced damage to subsequent targets. [Vulnerability x2] 5s (With a buff to the base damage)
   2. Splitblade – Throw a spread pattern of five whirling axes that bleeds foes and grants swiftness if foes are hit. [Bleeding x5] 6.25s and *[Swiftness] 5s
   3. Winter’s Bite – Throw an axe that removes a two boons. Your pet’s next attack inflicts Chilled. [Chilled] 3.25s (Increase the base damage by a bit)
      Beastmastery & Pets:
2. Pets are overpowered in condition builds
   1. Cats give condition builds high direct damage burst, while direct damage builds don’t get stronger with different pets.

if you would implement this, it would srsly suck, because then the ranger would be there without any 1h condition weapon. this is why i would like you to either introduce the pistol as condition weapon or rework the axe so that it becomes a condition weapon

we don’t have any real 1 hand condition weapon currently and we still do ok this is how the spirit ranger build is working, would be nice but it isn’t something we absolutely need based on our current performance with our seemingly never ending burn with the poison and bleeds on top.

AEFA.9035:

Substance E.4852:

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. VII. Spotter – Should be moved to Skirmishing as Gradmaster minor.
   1. Rework to 5% crit chance & 3% crit damage
2. Change VII to Hunter’s Tactics – +3% increase damage on disabled enemies (stun/daze/knockdown/fear/immob)

Not sure who suggested this but unless “Hunter’s Tactics” is also an aura like Spotter or other classes’ auras, then this is a horrible tradeoff if we are to ever be more desirable in WvW. Crit chance and damage is virtually useless to a zerg of PVT heavies whereas a damage buff on a stuned target is a HUGE buff to the hammer train meta. Rangers go from the butt of every WvW joke to almost a must have for zerg combat. It’s just that easy to fix us.

We lose 2% crit chance and have it moved up a tier and to a different tree for something that is just another highly circumstantial trait that relies on our pets to land their very short duration stuns for us.

Im the one who made all of those PVE suggestions mentioned by Allie actually. If you can’t get your head around the changes and why these changes, sorry but you need to play more Ranger bro.

lol whatever you say “bro”

Most of the changes look good!
I have 1-2 questions:
Could you remove the jump part from sword #1? We realy need a main hand weapon. Sword/axe will be good in that case in wvw.
Could axe#1 follow terrain? In wvw you only see your characters back if you try to hit a zerg.
Will the pets provide the spirit efects if they are down?
What will happens if we use rampage as one while pet stowed? (I suggest to reduce the recharge to half. In that case we realy rampage as one, the beast is within us)
Could you pls power up the greatsword just a little? Blast (and maybe dmg decrase) on maul and dmg incrase on aa.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Hey everyone,

I’ve tried to summarize most of the feedback we’ve been getting. Most of this are the big points that are being made and the high level with a few smaller suggestions and tweaks for inspiration.

Now, many of you might disagree with some of the feedback that others have been giving, but if you guys are going to take the time to write it, we’re going to take the time to read it.

These are some of the notes that I’ve been passing around to the balance team. Please know that this is not all of the feedback we’ve seen from you or from this thread.

(Cut the rest, but still responding to it, click on Allie Murdock’s name to link to original post)

Yay! We got a post! Now I can stop telling people to be patient! Anyways, on the changes you listed, here’s my feedback on that…..

On Removing Spirits (and attaching effects to pets) – It would make killing the pet much more of a priority in PvP and WvW. Most pets are relatively easy to kill too, meaning that if you realy want to get rid of the Ranger’s buffs,…Kill the Pet! Ignore the Ranger for once in your character’s short life, and actually deal with his/her class mechanic first!

On Healing Skills All those things are nice to have, but please don’t nerf the healing amounts in order to make those changes. (Its why some of us suggested that those heals get tied to a certain skill type, and just benefit from traits that already exist, like what This post)

On Pet Stowing/Aspects – While I like some parts of the idea that was floating around, I would rather see the current problems with pets fixed. Adding an Aspect for each pet would mean that the Ranger has the mechanics equivelant of 4 pets, which would just make things more complicated, and would also make all the traits and skills that involve pets in some way even more complex.

On Longbow Changes – Alot of people are complaining about that one, because it cripples, immobilizes, and knocks down, but, if the Longbow’s mechanic remains, in that it rewards playing at maximum range, I don’t actually see any problems with it.

Warhorn – Changing Warhorn #4 to apply Protection, Regen, and Vigor would synergize well with Warhorn #5, which gives Fury, Might, and Swiftness. You are basically giving up all off-hand damage and Utility (dodges, crits, etc.) in order to regularly give a source of 6 different boons, which is awesome! There’s some serious support right there!

…..But, I do like the effects that Warhorn #4 does now. Depending on my build, I can give my pet 17 stacks of might (if every attack crits, and using Companion’s Might), or I can potentially apply anywhere from 10-25 stacks of bleeding immediately (With Sharpended Edges and an Earth Sigil). I am 100% open to it changing though because the skill stops hitting immediately whenever an enemy is out of our line of sight, which doesn’t make any sense at all, so either fix that, or change it to what you listed please!

I have no complaints about anything else.

I hope a better pet UI makes it into the game, it is already a pain when we cant see pet boons and conditions they currently have. not to mention to see if shouts are still affecting them.

Specific Game Mode
PvX

Proposal Overview
Longbow #4: Most ranger players would agree that the longbow needs a burst skill. I would propose that a charge-up is added to this weapon skill.

Goal of Proposal
To give the longbow, a power weapon, a kill shot, while keeping it in line with what the five weapon skills already do.

Proposal Functionality
You either shoot immediately, giving you the current function, or hold-and-release for a telegraphed high-damage shot that also does the knock back.

Associated Risks
The ranger player will have to balance using the instant in those “oh kitten” moments, or the charged version. While the charged version could have the potential to outright kill an enemy, it could very easily be dodged, evaded or simply interrupted. I therefore see no risk.

AEFA.9035:

Substance E.4852:

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. VII. Spotter – Should be moved to Skirmishing as Gradmaster minor.
   1. Rework to 5% crit chance & 3% crit damage
2. Change VII to Hunter’s Tactics – +3% increase damage on disabled enemies (stun/daze/knockdown/fear/immob)

Not sure who suggested this but unless “Hunter’s Tactics” is also an aura like Spotter or other classes’ auras, then this is a horrible tradeoff if we are to ever be more desirable in WvW. Crit chance and damage is virtually useless to a zerg of PVT heavies whereas a damage buff on a stuned target is a HUGE buff to the hammer train meta. Rangers go from the butt of every WvW joke to almost a must have for zerg combat. It’s just that easy to fix us.

We lose 2% crit chance and have it moved up a tier and to a different tree for something that is just another highly circumstantial trait that relies on our pets to land their very short duration stuns for us.

Im the one who made all of those PVE suggestions mentioned by Allie actually. If you can’t get your head around the changes and why these changes, sorry but you need to play more Ranger bro.

actually a lot of things have been mentioned several times by several people. the only real original things are mainly things involving pets do to the large numbers of posts that are against pets rather than for them. somewhere around 90% of the posts in this cdi are PvE or PvX so give credit to everyone else who mentioned any pve buffs because they are not solely original I can guarantee that. Also that is not everything, that is more of a reiteration of just some of the ideas that have been mentioned inside letting us know that those things have been mentioned for sure, now we just need to focus on things not on that list to make sure that ideas are reaching them if they have not yet been noticed…. such as the pet UI displaying conditions, boons and shouts.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Allie Murdock.8152:

Hey everyone,

I know we haven’t been as responsive as some of the other CDIs, but part of that is because we have double the amount of posts as the next one down and we’re spending most of our time reading and discussing the issues internally.

Given that, I’m going to lock the thread for now so that the team and I can catch up and discuss/summarize the feedback we’ve gotten.

Thanks so much for keeping it going!

Hi All,

I want to re-emphasize a few points i have made recently in regard to the CDI:

1: The primary purpose of the CDI is for the team to read your proposals, discussions and suggestions.
2: This allows us to then evaluate our end, discuss and then give our thoughts back to the group.
3: This particular topic is very big and thus there is a lot for us to discuss internally.
4: We will get back as often as we can with a summary of our thoughts. This said point 1 is still super valuable in of itself.
5: Finally the Devs are part of the CDI, fellow group members. Therefore we don’t want to pay lip service by commenting on posts that are not worthwhile to do so, in some beleaguered attempt at some kind of marketing exercise.
6: Thus please don’t expect a deluge of read posts especially on such a big thread.

Finally thank you for spending your time to contribute to the discussion and ultimately make GW2 the very best game it can be.

Chris

When can we expect to get some feedback on specifics? A week, a month? Its pretty nerve-racking being on the ranger part waiting for something which could be anything from reduced duration on jungle spider immobilize to melee pets reliably hitting targets, anything from another Barrage damage nerf to long range shot hitting dancing targets at 1000+ range for a change. And then there is that “something amazing” which we also were hinted at in one of the ready ups.

Suggested changes sound great, except for the removal of spirits. Spirits add a lot of roleplaying flavor to rangers. Removing spirits would take the profession from having nature based cantrips to having no spellcasting ability whatsoever. I’d hate to see that roleplaying affordance be removed, as it’s one that I find particularly attractive about the ranger class.

A previous poster suggested making spirits non-targetable, which sounds much more promising to me. Instead of having their own life bars, let the ranger’s health determine when the spirit dies. So when the ranger’s health drops below a certain threshold, the spirit dies, or perhaps automatically triggers its AoE activated skill. For example, if a ranger casts Sun Spirit, you’d still get the spirit following you around, but it’s not targetable. Instead, the spirit dies when you get the ranger below, say, 50% health, at which point solar flare automatically activates and blinds nearby foes. Since spirits are tied to the vitality trait line, this change makes even more sense.

Furthermore, in PvP or WvW, changing spirits to behave this way would be better than removing spirits and putting the buff on pets, since the spirit following a ranger around is a much better visual indicator that a spirit buff is in play.

Traps are perfectly fine in the Skirmishing line. Just move condition duration to that line and critical damage to marksmanship. This way you boost both traps and the opening strike mechanic

Substance E.4852:

Isolating a portion of our damage onto a separate entity that can be killed is counter productive in PvE and WvW where aoe and instagib are too rampant to expect the pet to live long enough to make any impact.

Giving the player all the damage and downgrading the pet to a walking CC/Boon Dispenser is the best option. Changing BM to a system that increases pet damage in exchange for player damage is all that is needed.

^^^^ This right here.

Game Mode
PvX

Proposal Overview
Different F2 skills for porcine pets

Goal of Proposal
At the moment the F2 of porcine pets is Forage for them all: there is no difference between pig, boar, siamoth and warthog.
In other families every pet have a different role thanks to the different F2 skill, for example: wolf is used for aoe crowd control, fern hound for aoe healing, hyena synergize well with sun and frost spirits and so on. This don’t apply to porcine pets where we have x4 forage.

Proposal Functionality
Give a different F2 skill for every porcine pet, for example:
Boar: Launching Headbutt (just like the PvE version)
Pig: Sniff, apply Revealed (3s) to any enemy in a range of 600. Why? Pigs are used (ingame and in real life) to find truffles thanks to their developed sense of smell: they can use it to track a stealthed enemy.
Siamoth: Forage (just like it is now)
Warthog: Frenzy (like the warrior utility).

Associated Risk
I don’t see any real risks associated with the proposal

Safari.3021:

QoL

I am against any perma stowing of the pet, while the aspect idea is kinda cool, the guild wars ranger is a minion class, the pet is the key mechanic of that class, the pet should be fixed, not discarded.
I don’t want to be one of those guys that tell you to reroll, but c’mon, its been 20 months, why are you still a ranger if you hate the pet that much.

Wow, 44 pages of discussion, much of which directly discussing this and yet you managed to get through without reading a single post by anyone discussing Perma-stow.

Kudos. You get the ‘Missed the Point’ award for 2014.

Tiborb.1453:

Game Mode
PvX

Proposal Overview
Different F2 skills for porcine pets

Goal of Proposal
At the moment the F2 of porcine pets is Forage for them all: there is no difference between pig, boar, siamoth and warthog.
In other families every pet have a different role thanks to the different F2 skill, for example: wolf is used for aoe crowd control, fern hound for aoe healing, hyena synergize well with sun and frost spirits and so on. This don’t apply to porcine pets where we have x4 forage.

Proposal Functionality
Give a different F2 skill for every porcine pet, for example:
Boar: Launching Headbutt (just like the PvE version)
Pig: Sniff, apply Revealed (3s) to any enemy in a range of 600. Why? Pigs are used (ingame and in real life) to find truffles thanks to their developed sense of smell: they can use it to track a stealthed enemy.
Siamoth: Forage (just like it is now)
Warthog: Frenzy (like the warrior utility).

Associated Risk
I don’t see any real risks associated with the proposal

I don’t use the Porcine family at all but this seems sensible. I also see no downsides. It’s the one class that is little more than a reskin.

Ranger main here (1k+ hours on my Ranger)

Part 1

> Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes.
Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do.

Simply making them non-targetable would have the same effect…

> Ranger heals should match their purpose more.
> Reduce cooldown of Troll Unguent/add condi removal

Yea – Troll Unguent, if cast just before going into a 1v1 Fight, is already pretty potent. This would just make it OP.

> Increase radius of Healing Spring & increase cast time

That seems fine.

> Reduce cooldown of Heal as one or reduce cast time.

Ok – That skill is a bit useless – Troll Unguent currently pwns it.

> Stats could scale based on the Ranger’s stats and the pet’s family, with a weight on specific stats based on the individual pet

One of my builds is a Tank-Based CC Ranger with extremely focused pet-based damage – This would pretty much kill the build as my pet wouldn’t be able to kill anything…

> Pets should take less damage from AoE and one-shot mechanics.

Or just have a more responsive “Return”

> Pets should take 30% damage from AoEs, be immune to one shot mechanics and take 25% damage from cleaves when not the selected target.

See above.

> Pets can’t keep up in combat.
> Melee range should be increased to 600 to accommodate the “run>stop>begin attack>cancel attack>run>stop” type mechanics you see throughout the game.

This I agree with, although a shorter attack animation could have the same effect.

> Increase pet movement speed by 10-15%. Replace Agility Training with Vigorous training

Many Pets are already faster than players in many cases…

> Pets have a hard time sticking to their target because they can’t attack and move at the same time. Increasing their speed could help increase their damage by just allowing them to keep up with their target.

Shorter attack animation … ?

> Allow pets to attack while moving.

I would love this <3

> When the pet is stowed, the Ranger should gain “aspect of the <pet name>” effect which provides unique buffs based on the pet family and specific pet.

It could be interesting as I primarily use a single pet with a secondary one as backup…

> Signets should always affect the Ranger and require a beastmastery trait to also affect the pet.

Permanent Active effect? Yea – That’s just OP (And I’m a Ranger!)

> New trait: Master: Cleansing Swap: When you swap pets, you lose 2 conditions (ICD of 10 seconds).

Could be useful!

> Counterplay – when ranger swaps pets, the pet loses boons

Urmmm – They already do?

Part 2


> New trait: Grand Master: Camaraderie: When you swap pets, the inactive pet gains the same boons as the active pet (boon values are capped).

Could be awesome when you’re running pet-buff builds (Warhorn)

> Longbow: Reward max range and synergize with pet.

Bear bows unite… ? :/

> Vulnerability instead of damage increase with range (s1), cripple (s2), immobilize (s3), knockdown (s5)

Jees – Bit overkill with the CC there?

> Shortbow: Condition Damage
> Burning (s3), Torment (s4), s3 should be s5 w/ leapback + confusion

I like my stuns / slows on my SB – They prevent enemies from running away :/

> Sword: Power
> Dodge overrides animation (s1)

YES!

> s2 jumps reversed (first goes in, second goes out)

NO! It’s a retreat skill! Can be used with a roll+rotate for extra distance in bad situations!

> s3 cast time reduced to better time evades

It’s more the fact that the roll arc is so wide it doesn’t hit anything at the end than the fact it doesn’t evade fast enough…

> s4 gives Protection, Regen and Vigor to nearby allies

Urmmm – How’re we meant to gain Warhorn kills? Would make it a bit OP as support too

> Axe: Multiple target/power
> Base damage could be increased slightly

Yes – It’s pretty useless as is, so I don’t really use it much…

> Skirmishing:
> Remove traps from this line.
> They simply do not make sense here, because they are largely condition based but skirmishing is the crit line. That, or swap the stats of the skirmishing line altogether.

I’ve always wondered about that…

> Give Rangers the option to fire off traps manually.

As opposed to now, where they trigger automatically… ?

> Wilderness experts should be the masters of poisons. Therefore, Rangers should have the most potent poisons available.

Wouldn’t that be something Necro’s would be better with… ? Although, I suppose a Wilderness Combat-Spec’d Ranger would be decent.

> Pets die easily in dungeons because they can’t dodge telegraphed skills.

“Retreat!”

> New Grandmaster minor: Companionship – Pet gains +7% stats bonus from the player.

Kewl.

> Give them something similar to shouts.

… Spirits?

> III. Keen Edge – Critical hits do +1% damage.

…. 1%? o_O

> Change VII to Hunter’s Tactics – +3% increase damage on disabled enemies
> (stun/daze/knockdown/fear/immob)

If they’re removing all the Stuns / Immobo’s from our Shortbow, this’d be odd (Although with all that CC on the Longbow…)

> Beastmaster’s Might – pet does +1% damage for every boon on enemy

Would be awesome for the new SB Ranger.

> Eagle Eye – Include shortbow. Provides 200 range and +5% damage on longbow and harpoon gun. (no range bonus for shortbow)

No Rangers (should) run dual-bows – This would be useless.

> Remorseless – Next attack applies 3 stacks of vulnerability for 6s. 16 sec cooldown

Interesting…

> Evasive Purity – Dodging removes 1 conditions from you and your pet. (10s cooldown)

Useful!

> Tail Wind – Provides +20% movement speed while in combat.

Kewl.

> Some changes to Axe should be made to make it a more desirable weapon.

Yes!

> [Bleeding x5] 6.25s

Wasn’t__it a Power-based weapon… ?

> Throw an axe that removes a two boons. Your pet’s next attack inflicts Chilled. [Chilled] 3.25s

Apparently not…

> Pets are overpowered in condition builds

Not really – Most pet-based builds are power-based (See Brazils Vet Giant Video)

phys.7689:

Aidenwolf.5964:

Allie Murdock.8152:

Also, you guys can’t see this due to the limitations of formatting on our forums, but a lot of these points were made by many of you guys. As such, they are much more emphasized in the email threads and discussions we have internally.

First, thank you for your summary. What I think got missed in the pile was the idea that pet damage should be rebalanced so that they no longer draw 30% of our damage from us in the first place. All other classes core mechanics add to base damage where as rangers loose almost a third of our player damage in order to have an AI run around with us. If our pets hit every time and are never dead, we just get to 100% base damage of every other class capping us at 100% a warrior hits 115% with his/her core mechanic.

This does not take into account the loss of gear stats on the pet which is significant.

this is completely false, all classes are balanced with their class mechanics in mind.
A mesmer isnt doing high level dmg competitive with other dps classes without phantasms or conditions without its clones. Necro base power on skills is lower even on its dps skills because they consider condition/minions in their max dps. Elementalists skills are tied to swapping elements, and they specifically place finishers and AOE in different places to promote swapping. Theif inititative totally changes how and what skills get dmg, and its generally balanced around initiative costs. Every classes mechanic is figured into their DPS.

Sorry if you don’t understand that 30% of ranger base damage is given to our pets. I don’t argue facts I just point them out. As for class balance taking into account class mechanics you are correct in theory but 30% of our damage is tied to AI and that is out of our hands.

Players need the option to use 100% of the power not 70% which is why perma stowing pets was brought up in the first place. When your pet is not out you get the power.

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

1. We get kicked out of elitist parties anyways

This would specifically be why I would not do something like it. ANet should not try to patch human stupidity. It’s not possible, anyhow.

To Allie!

Reading u’r summary makes me suprised (in a good way) and happy! Many of the Changes would make so much sense for me as main ranger!!! In short it would give me (as a PvE Beastmaster/bow ranger) better use of my pet, better use of my bow and a better ability to support my allies. It would also contribute to improve the “right feeling” of being a ranger if u know what i mean – and far more fun gameplay!!!

I start to feel hopeful for this one!

Thanks Allie (and the rest of u working on this as well)!!!!

On a plus for the stow option, people who want to use the pets in pve will be able to use stow as a pet dodge, as the pet will disappear right before some one hit skill lands, and be able to be unstowed right after.

Specific Game Mode
PvX, specifically regarding pets.

Proposal Overview
Additional F-key functionality for pets:
F2: when pet is downed, F2 becomes a partial revive similar to GW1’s Comfort Animal
F3: when activated, your pet gains evasion/blur/aegis for short duration

Goal of Proposal
F2: The only options rangers have to revive a downed pet involve leaving combat or forcing a pet swap, rather than pet swaps being a tactical decision. Two pet deaths in succession can mean the ranger is without a pet for up to 60 seconds, leaving them missing a significant portion of their damage and utility compared to other classes. Giving rangers another option to partially revive a pet that doesn’t involve leaving combat would go a good way to resolving the issue of pets being consistently dead in difficult content. The health percentage of the revive could scale off pet or ranger healing stat.
F3: The main reason players use F3 in combat is to pull their pet back out of danger, and this change would allow the intended effect of avoiding fatal damage to succeed more reliably. I’m sure adding evasion/blur/aegis to F3 has been suggested elsewhere in this thread.

Proposal Functionality
The F2 skill would “flip” when a pet is downed, and give access to the partial revive skill, which would then show its associated cooldown (if any) if the pet were to be downed again. F3 would just apply the associated effect to the pet, and would otherwise function as it currently does.

Associated Risks
The changed F2 would probably be a 1-2 second channel, which could be interrupted and which would prevent the ranger from doing damage for the duration of the channel. It would probably require an ICD to prevent partial revive spamming. The changed F3 could be spammed or abused if it did not have an ICD.

(Historical note: in beta, pets could be revived by anyone the same way that downed players could, which meant they were moving revive targets, always getting in the way when you wanted to revive players. This was problematic, as you might imagine.)