Guild Wars 2

Was doing map completion for an alt in Wayfarer Foothills, and came across something I’ve never noticed before. The task here allows you to transform into a snow leopard, and allow you to view already exisiting dodge animatiosn for the animal form. I thought Anet would be reluctant to include a dodge for pets because they would have to implement new animations, although there seems to be animations already exisiting it seems…

Yes. Canines and Felines have a dodge animation. All the other ones do a quick scurry in whatever direction you dodge in (assuming you use tonics to see for yourself).

I don’t think there even needs to be an animation for the pet, it just needs the evade frames at the same time as the Ranger gets them on successful dodge. They could even just cut the code from Companion’s Defense and add the Distortion effect instead of Protection, making it baseline. Surely cannot be that hard.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Yes. Canines and Felines have a dodge animation. All the other ones do a quick scurry in whatever direction you dodge in (assuming you use tonics to see for yourself).

Yeah, noticed that the majority of the pets species just scurry, but never knew there were actual animations already existing at the moment.

If pets did get an access to evade frames, may give a reason to apply vigor to the pet through Fortifying Bond or any other access to the boon. Could implement a second bar underneath the Pet’s Health on the UI so you can visually see the current endurance for your pet as well.

DoogySnowStalker.2069:

If pets did get an access to evade frames, may give a reason to apply vigor to the pet through Fortifying Bond or any other access to the boon. Could implement a second bar underneath the Pet’s Health on the UI so you can visually see the current endurance for your pet as well.

I don’t think there is any real need for that. If it were me, I would just code it so as the pet evades when the Ranger dodges. No need for pet endurance then since the Ranger endurance is the limiting factor.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

I don’t think there is any real need for that. If it were me, I would just code it so as the pet evades when the Ranger dodges. No need for pet endurance then since the Ranger endurance is the limiting factor.

True, just bugs me that the pet gains a boon that it doesn’t benefit from at all

But to discuss the downsides of a dodging pet:
If your pet dodges when the ranger does, it does have to interrupt the pet. So, if you are using Search and Rescue! and dodge, then your pet should stop rezzing for the dodge. Otherwise we are not talking about evading (cause this is tied to specific skills) nor dodging (cause you aren’t able to do something else while dodging). We would be talking about invuln.

Nope, we are talking about giving the pet evade when the Ranger dodges, not the pet dodging. At least I am. Should be no requirement for the pet to be interrupted. In fact having it like this creates better play for the Ranger, as he can use Allies Aid or S&R to get the pet to rez, then dodge so the pet gets evade in order to prevent the pet being CCd. This is why I was talking about giving the pet Blur/Distortion on Ranger Dodge (0.75s). So it is a visible buff on the pet and is an evade rather than invuln.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Nope, we are talking about giving the pet evade when the Ranger dodges, not the pet dodging. At least I am. Should be no requirement for the pet to be interrupted. In fact having it like this creates better play for the Ranger, as he can use Allies Aid or S&R to get the pet to rez, then dodge so the pet gets evade in order to prevent the pet being CCd. This is why I was talking about giving the pet Blur/Distortion on Ranger Dodge (0.75s). So it is a visible buff on the pet and is an evade rather than invuln.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about, if you give the pet evade without interrupting, it will negate counterplay. There is no way to counter Search and Rescue or Allies Aid. The pet is rezzing incredibly fast, so how will anyone counter ranger rez anymore?

There should be a downside to give the enemy a chance.

Kodama.6453:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Nope, we are talking about giving the pet evade when the Ranger dodges, not the pet dodging. At least I am. Should be no requirement for the pet to be interrupted. In fact having it like this creates better play for the Ranger, as he can use Allies Aid or S&R to get the pet to rez, then dodge so the pet gets evade in order to prevent the pet being CCd. This is why I was talking about giving the pet Blur/Distortion on Ranger Dodge (0.75s). So it is a visible buff on the pet and is an evade rather than invuln.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about, if you give the pet evade without interrupting, it will negate counterplay. There is no way to counter Search and Rescue or Allies Aid. The pet is rezzing incredibly fast, so how will anyone counter ranger rez anymore?

There should be a downside to give the enemy a chance.

Well, the downside is the Ranger has to burn a dodge and also time it right. It’s not negating counterplay, its making counterplay more active, giving the Ranger a counter for the counter. The Blur is an icon on the pet, so the foe can just not ’rupt for that 0.75s, which means they need to pay attention and use skill rather than ’rupt as soon as they see the pet begin the rez. Would also make the Ranger better for team play in PvP. Blur is specifically made for this purpose, to give evades without interrupting, ie Blurred Frenzy.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Kodama.6453:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Nope, we are talking about giving the pet evade when the Ranger dodges, not the pet dodging. At least I am. Should be no requirement for the pet to be interrupted. In fact having it like this creates better play for the Ranger, as he can use Allies Aid or S&R to get the pet to rez, then dodge so the pet gets evade in order to prevent the pet being CCd. This is why I was talking about giving the pet Blur/Distortion on Ranger Dodge (0.75s). So it is a visible buff on the pet and is an evade rather than invuln.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about, if you give the pet evade without interrupting, it will negate counterplay. There is no way to counter Search and Rescue or Allies Aid. The pet is rezzing incredibly fast, so how will anyone counter ranger rez anymore?

There should be a downside to give the enemy a chance.

Well, the downside is the Ranger has to burn a dodge and also time it right. It’s not negating counterplay, its making counterplay more active, giving the Ranger a counter for the counter. The Blur is an icon on the pet, so the foe can just not ’rupt for that 0.75s, which means they need to pay attention and use skill rather than ’rupt as soon as they see the pet begin the rez. Would also make the Ranger better for team play in PvP. Blur is specifically made for this purpose, to give evades without interrupting, ie Blurred Frenzy.

There already is a counter for the counter → stability, blind.
I totally support the idea to give the pet the ability to dodge, but I think there should be some trade off especially for the case of Search and Rescue.

Allies Aid already is a strong support for the team, there are some topics in this forum where rangers say how wonderful this new trait is.

Well, you need RaO or SoTW for stability, both of which are a 1s cast time, a bit too long to counter an interrupt and you cannot apply the blind without the pet either. Sure, you can pre-cast RaO/SoTW, but its not really a counter then, it is a preparation for something that has not happened and may not happen.

Trade offs:
Lose the Pet DPS and utility for the duration of the rez which is 20s for the pet alone, as well as using 50% endurance on the Ranger for each 0.75s evade on the pet.

Gains: 0.75s evade which is displayed as an icon on the pet.

I dunno, that seems fine to me. If people blow their ’rupt to stop the pet when they have such a long timeframe to do it and there is an indicator on the pet, that is their own stupid fault. Not to mention, they will probably get another shot at it anyway if they pet is left to rez by itself.