Guild Wars 2

I think it would be nice to see more plant-based pets, especially of the flying variation.

Flying plant pets. I’ve already had my fill of sparkling Sylvari tumbr level fan fiction story lines. No more plants.

Ardid.7203:

I think it would be nice to have pets that don’t forget their names.

Agree.

Or they take other pet’s names too srslynods

I want a pet dinosaur or bats. Something cool.

Ardid.7203:

I think it would be nice to have pets that don’t forget their names.

Indeed.

…and ones, other than bears, that don’t die within 2 secs would be nice, too.

Siege devourers.

Skelk/Skale.

Karka.

Griffons.

Dolphins.

Raptors.

And probably more I can’t think of right now…

Honestly though, it’d be better to give rangers an alternate mechanic that does not utilize the pet, as pets tend to suck in anything that isn’t out in open world Tyria (and even then there are some situations where they’re more of a hindrance than help).

I like plant wolves a lot. Though they aren’t part of my meta so I can’t use em.

Ardid.7203:

I think it would be nice to have pets that don’t forget their names.

It would be nice to have pets that were either optional or didn’t feel like a handicap.

Quaggan butler!

All the races hold other members of their race as prisoner. How about an option to go to the local jail and pick out a prisoner and force him to fight alongside you as part of his punishment, (replaces your pet and controllable from the pet panel).

I would like more pet versatility. Like our skills and such, I would like the same (to a lesser extent) for the pets so I can choose to make one pet do more damage or be thicker skinned. I want more buttons to mash!

scerevisiae.1972:

It would be nice to have pets that were either optional or didn’t feel like a handicap.

This.

Nilkemia.8507:

scerevisiae.1972:

It would be nice to have pets that were either optional or didn’t feel like a handicap.

This.

How long must we wander in the desert of bad pet ai and not being able to dismiss them? ArenaNet: This is your golden opportunity to have your cake and eat it too. Give Rangers a specialization that doesn’t require a pet active. You get to keep pets in always like you want and players get to ditch pets like they’ve always wanted. It’s a win/win. I will be sorely disappointed if Druids require pets active. People have been asking for it for forever.

I really want a little horde of pocket raptors like we saw in the stress test. They were super cute and really bitey. They could inflict bleeding a lot, and shriek.

Just give us back crocodile-looking scaled/swamp drakes like we had in beta, for the love of god! I mean the marsh drake icon is STILL a picture of one! What reason could they possibly have had for taking it out and putting in a boring crud palette swap of the fire drake? Drives me nuts. That pet was the main reason I made a ranger way back when.

I’m not sure why people who want to play a ranger without a pet are playing a ranger at all. It’d not like there are not other bow wielding, trap setting professions out there. I think that if you say, this professions mechanic is to play with pets—you can assume that the players who choose that profession want to play with pets!!!!

And since we know they are getting a Druid who will use a staff and probably focus on magic and not on melee, I think those of you hoping to shed your pet are going to be very very disappointed as…I’m kind of guessing that Ranger who are Druids will still be using pets!

Now…we could stand to get rid of those useless nature spirits. Or at least give them models that don’t all look identical, and stop making us spec into them just so they can walk around on the legs they clearly have!!!

scerevisiae.1972:

Ardid.7203:

I think it would be nice to have pets that don’t forget their names.

It would be nice to have pets that were either optional or didn’t feel like a handicap.

This 1,000,000 times

lukejoe.1592:

I’m not sure why people who want to play a ranger without a pet are playing a ranger at all. It’d not like there are not other bow wielding, trap setting professions out there. I think that if you say, this professions mechanic is to play with pets—you can assume that the players who choose that profession want to play with pets!!!!

And since we know they are getting a Druid who will use a staff and probably focus on magic and not on melee, I think those of you hoping to shed your pet are going to be very very disappointed as…I’m kind of guessing that Ranger who are Druids will still be using pets!

Now…we could stand to get rid of those useless nature spirits. Or at least give them models that don’t all look identical, and stop making us spec into them just so they can walk around on the legs they clearly have!!!

Agreed.
I also don’t get why people want to get rid of the pet on the class that is basically the pet-using class.
It is the same thing as if I started complaining that i want my warrior to have a pet.

However, I do hope we get some improvements on pet mechanics / control / AI, or at least a trait that improves our skills or stats when our pet gets killed…

lukejoe.1592:

I’m not sure why people who want to play a ranger without a pet are playing a ranger at all.

Why the heck do rangers have pets anyway? Did Strider have a pet? What about the Lone Ranger? Heck, he had a mount! Anyway, aren’t rangers supposed to, ya know, range around in the wilderness, living off the land while keeping an eye out for bad guys and stuff?

/e sings

What’s pets got to do, got to do with it?
What’s pets, but a limiting mechanic?
What’s pets got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a bear when two swords would be awesome!

Just a flesh wound.3589:

All the races hold other members of their race as prisoner. How about an option to go to the local jail and pick out a prisoner and force him to fight alongside you as part of his punishment, (replaces your pet and controllable from the pet panel).

Forget druid! New Ranger specialization = slavedriver!
brings a new twist on the profession, with slaves replacing pets, and an access to pistols!

If you want to go longbow + two swords, you should check the warrior class… You can also make a norn, if you want a more “nature-bound” one (just avoid the “one drink deserves another” lvl 10 personal quest, it is bugged)
Rangers usually have some connection with nature and animals in RPG games, that is probably why Anet gave GW2 rangers pets

Elendur.9342:

lukejoe.1592:

I’m not sure why people who want to play a ranger without a pet are playing a ranger at all. It’d not like there are not other bow wielding, trap setting professions out there. I think that if you say, this professions mechanic is to play with pets—you can assume that the players who choose that profession want to play with pets!!!!

And since we know they are getting a Druid who will use a staff and probably focus on magic and not on melee, I think those of you hoping to shed your pet are going to be very very disappointed as…I’m kind of guessing that Ranger who are Druids will still be using pets!

Now…we could stand to get rid of those useless nature spirits. Or at least give them models that don’t all look identical, and stop making us spec into them just so they can walk around on the legs they clearly have!!!

Agreed.
I also don’t get why people want to get rid of the pet on the class that is basically the pet-using class.
It is the same thing as if I started complaining that i want my warrior to have a pet.

However, I do hope we get some improvements on pet mechanics / control / AI, or at least a trait that improves our skills or stats when our pet gets killed…

Well, if the AI was perfect, no one would be complaining, but it’s not, so people are complaining…. They’d probably complain anyway. I do, however, see a future Specialization getting rid of the pet we have now in favor of a petless mechanic. When will it happen? Don’t know, might take some people leaving Anet for it to happen, but it could.

Ardid.7203:

I think it would be nice to have pets that don’t forget their names.

Yes, mine are all grown up, they’re not juvenile anymore.. they’re responsible adult beasts who would love to have a name. it’s time, make it happen.

Pet’s are cool .Although i like them to use what i thought them to do: when to use an skill, dodge when AoE or roll on the ground when i say so.
So far no luck you see T.T

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Elendur.9342:

lukejoe.1592:

I’m not sure why people who want to play a ranger without a pet are playing a ranger at all. It’d not like there are not other bow wielding, trap setting professions out there. I think that if you say, this professions mechanic is to play with pets—you can assume that the players who choose that profession want to play with pets!!!!

And since we know they are getting a Druid who will use a staff and probably focus on magic and not on melee, I think those of you hoping to shed your pet are going to be very very disappointed as…I’m kind of guessing that Ranger who are Druids will still be using pets!

Now…we could stand to get rid of those useless nature spirits. Or at least give them models that don’t all look identical, and stop making us spec into them just so they can walk around on the legs they clearly have!!!

Agreed.
I also don’t get why people want to get rid of the pet on the class that is basically the pet-using class.
It is the same thing as if I started complaining that i want my warrior to have a pet.

However, I do hope we get some improvements on pet mechanics / control / AI, or at least a trait that improves our skills or stats when our pet gets killed…

Well, if the AI was perfect, no one would be complaining, but it’s not, so people are complaining…. They’d probably complain anyway. I do, however, see a future Specialization getting rid of the pet we have now in favor of a petless mechanic. When will it happen? Don’t know, might take some people leaving Anet for it to happen, but it could.

Agreed, the AI IS bad.
My point there is that what defines the ranger as a ranger, are the pets. If you want to play with a bow, you can go thief or warrior, so I don’t get why people want to get rid of the pets.
Personally, I want them to fix the AI. Give us some proper control of our pet, get rid of that BS where we have to use our utility skills to control pets, make improvements so the pets are actually helpful and a good mechanic.
Though I will admit that getting rid of the following pets and using them as some sort of summons could be cool (you set buttons f1 to f4 with skills involving pets and you can call a moa to heal, a wolf to howl, an owl to chill, a bear to clean conditions, or something like that)

Elendur.9342:

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Elendur.9342:

lukejoe.1592:

I’m not sure why people who want to play a ranger without a pet are playing a ranger at all. It’d not like there are not other bow wielding, trap setting professions out there. I think that if you say, this professions mechanic is to play with pets—you can assume that the players who choose that profession want to play with pets!!!!

And since we know they are getting a Druid who will use a staff and probably focus on magic and not on melee, I think those of you hoping to shed your pet are going to be very very disappointed as…I’m kind of guessing that Ranger who are Druids will still be using pets!

Now…we could stand to get rid of those useless nature spirits. Or at least give them models that don’t all look identical, and stop making us spec into them just so they can walk around on the legs they clearly have!!!

Agreed.
I also don’t get why people want to get rid of the pet on the class that is basically the pet-using class.
It is the same thing as if I started complaining that i want my warrior to have a pet.

However, I do hope we get some improvements on pet mechanics / control / AI, or at least a trait that improves our skills or stats when our pet gets killed…

Well, if the AI was perfect, no one would be complaining, but it’s not, so people are complaining…. They’d probably complain anyway. I do, however, see a future Specialization getting rid of the pet we have now in favor of a petless mechanic. When will it happen? Don’t know, might take some people leaving Anet for it to happen, but it could.

Agreed, the AI IS bad.
My point there is that what defines the ranger as a ranger, are the pets. If you want to play with a bow, you can go thief or warrior, so I don’t get why people want to get rid of the pets.
Personally, I want them to fix the AI. Give us some proper control of our pet, get rid of that BS where we have to use our utility skills to control pets, make improvements so the pets are actually helpful and a good mechanic.
Though I will admit that getting rid of the following pets and using them as some sort of summons could be cool (you set buttons f1 to f4 with skills involving pets and you can call a moa to heal, a wolf to howl, an owl to chill, a bear to clean conditions, or something like that)

The bolded part. That is why I think a Specialization will come out with a mechanic that replaces pets completely. When you Specialize as a Druid you’re no longer a Ranger. Ranger gets to keep their pet. We don’t know if Druid gets an option out or if the pet mechanic stays exactly as it currently is. I remember Colin or somebody with Anet saying the Specializations get a new mechanic. Or if the Druid has pets at all the the video shown at PaX just had the pet there so we would all know it’s a Ranger. We just don’t know… People at Anet know but we don’t.. That’s why they get new names, utilities, trait line, etc. they are different from the original profession. As I have said on other threads, the pet AI can only improve if mob AI improves and that’s not going to happen. They’ve stopped short of flat out saying it’s not going to happen but feel free to read back through the Ranger CDI to see where John Peters said its not going to happen because of the massive amount of work it would take… Like the amount of work it would take to make a Specialization…. So, the only out we have so that current Rangers get to keep their pet and people that want a Ranger that is pet less, is through a Specialization. And no,

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Or if the Druid has pets at all the the video shown at PaX just had the pet there so we would all know it’s a Ranger.

If i recall correctly the pet was there and the ranger was holding a staff. thus druid. let’s just hope that the class mechanic change, will make the pets into something other (like passive companions offering a buff etc etc). but i have this suspicion that the pets will be there.

Yeah, guess I should’ve said “…know WAS a Ranger.” But, yeah, we don’t know. Kind of hard to imagine that the Devs and blogs keep saying that the Specialization will replace the class mechanic when they should have been saying “it will only replace parts of the mechanic.”

Elendur.9342:

Though I will admit that getting rid of the following pets and using them as some sort of summons could be cool (you set buttons f1 to f4 with skills involving pets and you can call a moa to heal, a wolf to howl, an owl to chill, a bear to clean conditions, or something like that)

That would be cool indeed.

I don’t think they get rid of the pet… Specially since, at least IMO, druids having pets makes more sense than rangers having pets.

Hopefully they will give druids better control of the pets than rangers have, just that would fix a lot. However, there is always the chance that they will go “whatever mode” and give druids the ability of walking around with 2 pets out at the same time LMAO

I still think my idea for summoning pets as skills could be nice for a druid.

If Druids still have the pet mechanic, what’s the point of calling it a Druid?

Ardid.7203:

I think it would be nice to have pets that don’t forget their names.

This X 1000

TheFantasticGman.9451:

If Druids still have the pet mechanic, what’s the point of calling it a Druid?

I will admit here that I am not reading all the devs say about what’s new on HoT, but I assume the specialization will end up like improved versions of the old classes… Otherwise, if they are really getting all new mechanics, they could just add them as full new classes, like the Revenant.

This is why I think Druids will still have pets, though I believe they will get some significant improvement.

If I am correct on that much, what we can do is hope the improvement won’t end up in using two pets at the same time, or getting a few new pets…

Comicon, 2011: I was at the ArenaNet Meet and Greet at the Hard Rock Hotel. I personally asked Colin about the pet AI after rolling a Ranger. They said they were still ironing it out. 4 years later. It’s not much better.

^I also posted this in the forums 2 years ago.

Now we get specializations and as someone who likes to play Ranger, the first thing I thought was, “PRAISE DWAYNA! We finally get a Ranger spec that ditches the stupid pet!”

It looks like that may not even have crossed their minds. It’s really disheartening the lack of regard for a whole profession and how broken that part of the profession really is. An example? Mai Trin Fractal. Why is my pet not immune to the damage of those circles on the floor?! There is literally not an enemy to attack during that phase of the fight, but the entire floor causes death.

Iason Evan.3806:

Comicon, 2011: I was at the ArenaNet Meet and Greet at the Hard Rock Hotel. I personally asked Colin about the pet AI after rolling a Ranger. They said they were still ironing it out. 4 years later. It’s not much better.

^I also posted this in the forums 2 years ago.

Now we get specializations and as someone who likes to play Ranger, the first thing I thought was, “PRAISE DWAYNA! We finally get a Ranger spec that ditches the stupid pet!”

It looks like that may not even have crossed their minds. It’s really disheartening the lack of regard for a whole profession and how broken that part of the profession really is. An example? Mai Trin Fractal. Why is my pet not immune to the damage of those circles on the floor?! There is literally not an enemy to attack during that phase of the fight, but the entire floor causes death.

I still think the easier fix for that would be a trait that buffs the ranger when the pet dies or something…
I don’t see they getting rid of the pets, hope they will at least fix the AI or gives us more control on that…

EDIT: anyone here ever played Dragon’s Dogma? Maybe we could use something similar to the pawn’s AI… We define presets behaviour to the pets. We go on the pet management screen, and define 2 presets for each active pets, then we swap presets like we swap active/passive mode and keep micro managing only “attack”, “come back” and the f2 skill… Just throwing ideas here, though.

Elendur.9342:

TheFantasticGman.9451:

If Druids still have the pet mechanic, what’s the point of calling it a Druid?

I will admit here that I am not reading all the devs say about what’s new on HoT, but I assume the specialization will end up like improved versions of the old classes… Otherwise, if they are really getting all new mechanics, they could just add them as full new classes, like the Revenant.

This is why I think Druids will still have pets, though I believe they will get some significant improvement.

If I am correct on that much, what we can do is hope the improvement won’t end up in using two pets at the same time, or getting a few new pets…

I have read/heard Anet Devs every bit on Specializations that they have put out and that’s why it is still up in the air.

Just look at the wiki for it: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Specialization

“Specializing keeps base profession skills and traits in addition to the new ones provided by that specialization, while offering new profession mechanics or changing existing ones²”

From the interview:

PCG: Another thing you announced was profession specialisations. The one you revealed was the Druid. That the Ranger was getting a staff weapon. Beyond having a different weapon, how different will the druid specialisation be from a ‘standard’ Ranger?

Colin: We’re really trying to make it feel like it’s almost a sub-profession or a secondary profession if you will, and not just a new set of a couple of skills. It’s not just opening up the capacity to use a staff. When a ranger becomes a druid, they have an entire new set of skills and traits that come available to them. And their profession mechanic changes as well. That’s true with all the specialisations. You actually play the profession differently, not just in skills and traits, but in the core mechanics of those professions. Some of them will change an existing profession, some of them might give them entirely new profession abilities and remove other ones. It really varies specialisation to specialisation, but it really should feel like you are playing a new version of your old profession. And players can actually mix and match a little bit. If you are playing as a Druid you will be able to use a lot of the Ranger’s skills, and you can actually slot them in to make a lot of creative builds. But a Ranger can not use any of the stuff a Druid has unless they become a Druid.

So, going by what Colin said… It’s going to change, but he doesn’t spell out specifically how. He was speaking in generalizations across all professions, not just Ranger. I also think the Druid is going to be, unfortunately, tied to a pet. I’m expecting a future Specialization that does away with the pet.

Humm
Well, I like druids, and I think that with a ranger evolving to a druid, they really have everything they need to make a really cool class…

Hope they use it! I want my ranger to become a cool druid!

Still, I am really pessimist, man… lmao

Well, what gives me hope is this line from Colin, “but it really should feel like you are playing a new version of your old profession.”

How different would a Druid feel from a Ranger if the Druid is tied to a pet? My guess is not very much. Would just feel like a Ranger with a staff.

Elendur.9342:

I still think the easier fix for that would be a trait that buffs the ranger when the pet dies or something…

Then people would just get the pet killed so they could play with the buff.

What they should do, but won’t, is make rangers with pets a specialization: the Beastmaster. And let those of us who don’t want pets be free of them.

Well, they should have never called it a Ranger in the first place. It should have been called Beastmaster, cause that is what it is… It’s our base class, so Anet Devs making a Specialization that replaces the mechanic completely (not just changing it) would be the easiest route to go. If they did that with a 2nd expansion pack, I’d preorder four within the first 10 minutes they are available.

One of the most used definitions for a ranger IS a beastmaster.
There are also other skills involved, like camouflage, or tracking, but we do have some stealth, and I honestly can’t imagine how they would implement tracking on a game (though if they found a way it would likely be pretty cool).

I really don’t think they get rid of the pets completely, since it would bring more problems like, imagine if someone unlocked all pets for his ranger, then he turns his ranger into a druid and loses all the pets he got? They simply don’t exist anymore? Some people would complain about that, and I honestly don’t think they would be all wrong to do so…

The other thing is that if I got it right, they want the specializations to feel like improved versions of the original class (I will read that again here), what defines the ranger as a ranger in GW2 if not the pets? The main difference between classes is the mechanic, right? And pets are the ranger class’ mechanic…

EDIT: I’ve read again what you wrote, and Colin said: “And their profession mechanic changes as well. That’s true with all the specialisations. You actually play the profession differently, not just in skills and traits, but in the core mechanics of those professions” which points to changes in the mechanics, but he also said: " it really should feel like you are playing a new version of your old profession."

Well, if not the mechanics, then what defines the profession? I am really wondering that! The weapon skills? The traits? I don’t know, seems a bit lazy…
I STILL think they will make some changes to the mechanics, like improve some things for the pets and call that “changes to the core mechanics of the profession”…

I guess it’s your previous experience what you think of first when you hear Ranger or Beastmaster. To me they are two different archetypes.

Because of what Colin said is what I said its up in the air what the Druid’s profession is actually going to look like. It’s just too vague to make definitive statement to what the Druid profession mechanic is going to look like.

Personally, I’d like the option out of pets. Been saying that for over two years. Love the weapon play style of the ranger, just hate the forced AI shared DPS. The best way out for people like me is Specializations. Yes, some people would be upset if the Ranger lost the pet, or even just had the option (which baffles me why the mere option would upset people), but with a Specialzation it wouldn’t be the Ranger that would be loosing the pet, it’d be the Druid or Marksman or whatever incarnation they dream up. So, those that want it the pet still can and those that don’t want the pet can FINALLY have an option out.

Were you here for the Ranger CDI, Elendur? If not, I suggest you go read through it because it outlines Anet’s reasoning for doing what they have done with the pet and what they, more specifically, refuse to do.

I always laugh at the people that say “Go play thief or warrior if you don’t like pets!” Because they’ve obviously, and painfully I might add, had very little to no experience on either the thief or warrior, Because if they did they wouldn’t be saying such silly things.

No, I wasn’t… Actually i am pretty new to this game, started as a ranger because I really like the usual archetype (having pets or not), and yes, I agree 100%, the option should DEFINITELY be there. I mean, I haven’t looked too much at the other classes, but I am pretty sure that they can play without using their mechanics (though I can’t think why someone wouldn’t want to use, say, a mesmer’s clones, for an example)

Having the option to not use the pets, or call them only when you want, would be great, specially seeing how they can really put the player in trouble sometimes.
Getting rid of the pet completely… Well, as long as they give us something really cool in exchange, I guess I can deal with it, but I woud like to see what is their plan.

I will check the CDI then! And btw, do you know how strong the specializations will be compared to the old professions? I mean, will a warrior’s power be comparable to a warrior’s specialization’s power, or will the warrior that didn’t specialize stay weaker or underpowered when compared to the guys that specialized?

EDIT: lol yeah, I have little exparience on both. Still, I don’t get why people would want to get rid completely of the class mechanic here…

That CDI is 67 pages long, so, good luck. At the time is was rated the class that needed the most help from Devs.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/cdi/Collaborative-Development-Ranger-Profession

We don’t know until numbers are crunched which Specialization or base class is better DPS. We probably won’t know that for a couple of months until after HoT is released.

Lmao Maybe I will check the 67 pages og the CDI later then lol

I asked that because if the old professions’ power is comparable to the specializations, then I am all in for complete changes on the gameplay, and I really think they should do it!
If not, then I think it is less likely thet they will make huge changes on the mechanics… The pets get a lot of hate and won’t be missed by most players, but let us take another class for an example, think about the engis and their turrets… Say specialization X will use mechanic Y instead of the old turrets. Some players will want to use the new Y mechanic, some will decide they like the old turret better… If their powers are comparable, they can chose wether to stay as an engi for the turrets or move to X to use Y, if not, the guys that stick with the engi will be at a handicap for liking the devs" old idea better than the new one…

They gave some good ideas there… Even Allie Murdock seemed to like the idea of getting a buff for stowing your pet

And that’s why she doesn’t work for Anet anymore was the running joke with some in my guild for awhile after she got the boot.

Lmao when you try to get a job at Anet they ask you if you like rangers on the interview

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Well, they should have never called it a Ranger in the first place. It should have been called Beastmaster, cause that is what it is… It’s our base class, so Anet Devs making a Specialization that replaces the mechanic completely (not just changing it) would be the easiest route to go. If they did that with a 2nd expansion pack, I’d preorder four within the first 10 minutes they are available.

The “original” RPG gave their Rangers pets. Check out Dungeons and Dragons, the pen and paper game that inspired in some way most of the fantasy games we play today.