Guild Wars 2

Pets are not going away and would take huge resources to go away.
Massive AI changes are hard to get the time to do (and often won’t work)
We need a simple fix.

I suggest we have 2 pets out at a time vs 1. That is really the easiest solution. Everything can be tweaked globally that way.

Then all that needs to be fixed is how much total damage (does each pet take a 25% cut?) Same with HPs. It should buff total damage and HPs.

It also gives us more F2 abilities which may become the primary driver of pets.

Whatabout – No.

Just….. Stop…. Please…

Ok, maybe a bad idea (never will find a good one without a lot of bad ones first).

So, what is the easy fix for the broken pet system?
I see a lot of answers that essentially would require massive coding changes or class redesigns which is less than likely to happen.

What is the simplest solution that doesn’t violate the idea that pets are here to stay?
Most simple solutions proposed benefit one or two builds only or are incremental versus significant enough to get ranger’s pet usefulness where I think ANet was heading.

Thoughts?

The absolute SIMPLEST solution would be to either 1) balance around the idea that the pet will only be up ~60% of the time or so and as such we would see a general buff to ranger damage to make up for the difference.

Or 2) make it so ALL pet attacks lunge forward to attack like Moa Morphs does, this gives the AI actual 100% uptime on the enemy , which is what they balanced ranger around, and would also make them more effective in PvP, if they feel pets are too strong if they do that then I’m just baffled…

Bombsaway.7198:

So, what is the easy fix for the broken pet system?

Unfortunately, none.

Pet auto attacks aren’t really bad, the problem is how the F2 skill works, I mean in how it communicate with server, and also about pet survivability in AoE heavy places, both problems are very hard to solve, issues which involve hardware and also chance of unbalance in game.

Belzebu.3912:

Bombsaway.7198:

So, what is the easy fix for the broken pet system?

Unfortunately, none.

Pet auto attacks aren’t really bad, the problem is how the F2 skill works, I mean in how it communicate with server, and also about pet survivability in AoE heavy places, both problems are very hard to solve, issues which involve hardware and also chance of unbalance in game.

Yes pet auto attack IS bad. Very bad.

I was playing my Necro the other day and had a ranger cat pet on me for about 2 minutes strait. You know how many times it hit me? 2. Yes two times. You know how to negate melee pet damage? Move. Keep strafing and 90% of the time the pet will miss. Just like running through a pack of wolves in PvE. Why? Because they share the same attack animation that makes it impossible for a pet to reliably land a hit while moving.

That is bad.

Ok, what was ultimately behind this thought of having 2 pets out wasn’t so much the pets but the ability to essentially have a “tool belt” worth of F2 abilities.

Some of the abilities are quite nice.

Yes 2 Spider Pets at the same time

that wouldn’t be overpowered at all

grin

Terravos.4059:

Yes 2 Spider Pets at the same time

that wouldn’t be overpowered at all

grin

It’s not like other classes can’t stun or immobilize lock either.

NO, unless they perform different roles (one set to only defend a small area around the ranger, giving only boons and protective services, the other can be used as offense. I made such a suggestion ages ago)

Just boost Hyena’s f2 skill.

“hyenaception” – Summons a hyena that summons a hyena that summons a hyena that…

In less than 20 seconds you’ll have an army!

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

Just boost Hyena’s f2 skill.

“hyenaception” – Summons a hyena that summons a hyena that summons a hyena that…

In less than 20 seconds you’ll have an army!

I like the way you think xD

Seriously though, I think Druzlla’s suggestion is pretty good and if they feel rangers can’t have more physical damage then give pets a 5th skill all melee “dps” pets can have a sprint the “tank” ones a condi cleanse perhaps on a 20s cd or similar and add to this maybe a tiny bit of range on melee attacks and give them some freaking aoe damage reduction there simply is no way around that you have to have it when everything is based around avoiding and dodging damage and they can’t just giving them more health is a bad fix that too easily makes them overpowered in normal pve and dungeons, although I would still prefer to have the actual rangers damage bumbed up cause I’m tired of pets by now if I could have the same capability alone for damage as I do now with my pet I would even give up the utility of them just to be free of the annoying basterds.

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

Just boost Hyena’s f2 skill.

“hyenaception” – Summons a hyena that summons a hyena that summons a hyena that…

In less than 20 seconds you’ll have an army!

Well if you take Commanding Voice (or w/e the F2 reduction trait is) you can have 3 Hyenas up for ~6s (before the “second” hyena despawns)…. I’m a little bit upset they stealth nerfed the Hyena F2 by making the summoned Hyena have a timer instead of “lasts until it dies” remember in a few me vs bunker fights I’d get 4 or 5 hyenas up at a time lol.