Guild Wars 2

What do most on-command pet skills have in common? They’re situational!

Examples:
[Owl] Chilling Slash – Slash your foes and chill them.
[Wolf] Terrifying Howl – Howl at foes to send them running in fear.
[Blue Moa] Protecting Screech – Screech to grant protection to nearby allies.
[Jungle Spider] Paralyzing Venom – Your next attack immoblizes your foe.
[Brown Bear] Shake It Off – Cure a condition on yourself and all nearby allies.
[Armor Fish] Stunning Rush – Rush at a foe and stun them.

Almost every single species’ on-command ability is situational. They apply chill, immobilize, fear, cripple, regeneration, protection, and so forth. The on-command abilities that DO NOT offer that sort of utility are either 1) AoE attacks, 2) high damage attacks, or 3) Bleeding attacks.

AoE attacks can work well. Take, for example, the Drake family. Each species has a very good AoE on-command ability.

High damage attacks and skills that set up for damage bonuses can also work well. In this case, a good example would be the jaguar’s stealth ability. The stealth is great and the damage bonus is great. The other skill I’m thinking of is the shark’s “Feeding Frenzy,” which is nice.

In my opinion, the Bleeding attacks are extremely underpowered. The lynx attack is okay, but it could use a bit more kick. The eagle, the hawk, and the arctodus attacks are way underpowered. They don’t offer very much at all.

Eagle/Hawk
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lacerating_Slash

Arctodus
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rending_Maul

My Suggestion:
With the eagle/hawk, I constantly need to spam the on-command skill to get the most out of my pet. With the Lacerating Slash skill, it took my eagle an average of 18 seconds to kill a Heavy Target Golem. Without the skill, it took my eagle an average of 25 seconds to kill a Heavy Target Golem. That’s a big deal.

I would definitely say change it to something more like the raven’s Blinding Slash. Either that or make the cooldown longer and make the attack stronger. Basically, instead of making it feel like I have to spam the attack constantly, make it feel like a utility or a powerful attack. Maybe add a cripple and change the cooldown to 10 seconds or so.

As for Rending Maul, it really needs a lot more kick. It’s weaker than the eagle/hawk attack. For a 15-second cooldown with a 1 second+ activation time, it’s just not good at all. It needs to be more powerful than Lacerating Slash, and it’s currently less powerful. I’d also add weakness or cripple to it.

That’s it. Thanks for your time! :P

Feel free to express your opinion, comment, etc. I’d like to see feedback on this issue.

Personally, I like Lacerating Slash. I even trait for faster F2 Cooldowns just for it. Spamming it has gotten me more DPS than using the Raven’s Blind or the Owl’s Chill.

jubskie.3152:

Personally, I like Lacerating Slash. I even trait for faster F2 Cooldowns just for it. Spamming it has gotten me more DPS than using the Raven’s Blind or the Owl’s Chill.

Yeah you can get higher DPS out of Eagle/Hawk than Raven or Owl, but then again, you’ll get higher DPS out of cats so….

Daemon.4295:

jubskie.3152:

Personally, I like Lacerating Slash. I even trait for faster F2 Cooldowns just for it. Spamming it has gotten me more DPS than using the Raven’s Blind or the Owl’s Chill.

Yeah you can get higher DPS out of Eagle/Hawk than Raven or Owl, but then again, you’ll get higher DPS out of cats so….

Exactly. There’s currently no reason to take an eagle over a cat. I even tested it.

Without the on-command ability, it took my jaguar 85 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.
With the on-command ability, it took my jaguar 64 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.

Without the on-command ability, it took my eagle 126 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.
With the on-command ability, it took my eagle 89 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.

The eagle has has Quickening Screech. Even with that, though, a cat will still be more effective. Especially since Quickening Screech is activated randomly, and can do more harm than good sometimes.

If Quickening Screech was the on-command ability, and Lacerating Slash was a normal ability, it’d make much more sense and the eagle could compete with the cat family.

zTales.4392:

Exactly. There’s currently no reason to take an eagle over a cat. I even tested it.

But there is. Birds have the AoE Vigor on swap trait. I consider this more valuable than a “selfish” bleed on crit trait that birds have.

It’s a matter of preference I think. I’ve had more success with birds than with cats and that’s why I’m sticking with them.

jubskie.3152:

zTales.4392:

Exactly. There’s currently no reason to take an eagle over a cat. I even tested it.

But there is. Birds have the AoE Vigor on swap trait. I consider this more valuable than a “selfish” bleed on crit trait that birds have.

It’s a matter of preference I think. I’ve had more success with birds than with cats and that’s why I’m sticking with them.

You have multiple birds, correct? That’s why. You shouldn’t be required to take two of the same pet to be effective, and you shouldn’t be required to grab a trait to make your pet effective.

Bird + Bird may be nice with the trait, but Cat + Non-Bird is always going to be better than Bird + Non-Bird.

P.S. I did those tests without the cat trait.

zTales.4392:

Daemon.4295:

jubskie.3152:

Personally, I like Lacerating Slash. I even trait for faster F2 Cooldowns just for it. Spamming it has gotten me more DPS than using the Raven’s Blind or the Owl’s Chill.

Yeah you can get higher DPS out of Eagle/Hawk than Raven or Owl, but then again, you’ll get higher DPS out of cats so….

Exactly. There’s currently no reason to take an eagle over a cat. I even tested it.

Without the on-command ability, it took my jaguar 85 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.
With the on-command ability, it took my jaguar 64 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.

Without the on-command ability, it took my eagle 126 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.
With the on-command ability, it took my eagle 89 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.

The eagle has has Quickening Screech. Even with that, though, a cat will still be more effective. Especially since Quickening Screech is activated randomly, and can do more harm than good sometimes.

If Quickening Screech was the on-command ability, and Lacerating Slash was a normal ability, it’d make much more sense and the eagle could compete with the cat family.

Wow, I lazily tested this last night on heavy golems and had a much bigger difference between cats (jag and lynx), and hawk. I don’t have the results on me but they killed at least 20% faster, I tested with both 0 traits and full pet traits.

EDIT: I also realized how cool the lynx’s 600 foot leap is. Psychologically it’s gotta grab some players’ aggro when they see your pet fly at their face from 600 away.

Daemon.4295:

zTales.4392:

Daemon.4295:

jubskie.3152:

Personally, I like Lacerating Slash. I even trait for faster F2 Cooldowns just for it. Spamming it has gotten me more DPS than using the Raven’s Blind or the Owl’s Chill.

Yeah you can get higher DPS out of Eagle/Hawk than Raven or Owl, but then again, you’ll get higher DPS out of cats so….

Exactly. There’s currently no reason to take an eagle over a cat. I even tested it.

Without the on-command ability, it took my jaguar 85 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.
With the on-command ability, it took my jaguar 64 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.

Without the on-command ability, it took my eagle 126 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.
With the on-command ability, it took my eagle 89 seconds to take down five Heavy Target Golems.

The eagle has has Quickening Screech. Even with that, though, a cat will still be more effective. Especially since Quickening Screech is activated randomly, and can do more harm than good sometimes.

If Quickening Screech was the on-command ability, and Lacerating Slash was a normal ability, it’d make much more sense and the eagle could compete with the cat family.

Wow, I lazily tested this last night on heavy golems and had a much bigger difference between cats (jag and lynx), and hawk. I don’t have the results on me but they killed at least 20% faster, I tested with both 0 traits and full pet traits.

Well, I don’t have the excel spreadsheet with me right now, but this is what I did:

-150 points in BM
-“Commanding Voice” – Pet skills (F2) recharge faster.

That may be why. The results were very solid, too. The time was never more than 2 seconds apart (i.e. for the eagle, the minimum time was 23 seconds per Golem, max time was 25), even when I tested it a second time.

Daemon.4295:

EDIT: I also realized how cool the lynx’s 600 foot leap is. Psychologically it’s gotta grab some players’ aggro when they see your pet fly at their face from 600 away.

Hah, I never thought about that. You’re probably right, it may fluster some people. xD

Yeah, 150 points in BM would probably explain it :p

I tested with both 0/0/0/0/0, and 10/0/0/0/30 with pet’s prowess, commanding voice and either mighty swap or rending attacks, can’t remember which. I was just messing around really so I’d trust your results more than mine, it was hardly a scientific approach to testing. I might give it another shot later.

Daemon.4295:

Yeah, 150 points in BM would probably explain it :p

I tested with both 0/0/0/0/0, and 10/0/0/0/30 with pet’s prowess, commanding voice and either mighty swap or rending attacks, can’t remember which. I was just messing around really so I’d trust your results more than mine, it was hardly a scientific approach to testing. I might give it another shot later.

I enjoy data collecting. I record a lot of it on video, and I put everything on an Excel spreadsheet. You can trust my data! xD

Side note: The eagle took 126 seconds to kill five Golems, and the wolf took 129 seconds to kill five Golems. :P

I think we’re not on the same page. You seem to be focused on just DPS while I’m after utility with a bit of damage.

Wolf is definitely king for utility, but i feel that it lacks the damage that birds/cats bring. Cats on the other hand bring damage and just damage so it’s not as good a utility pet.

Yes, I agree that you don’t have to use 2 of the same type to be effective, but I just prefer birds over cats due to their size. Most people ignore my birds because it just swooping around them and it’s hard to determine when they actually deal their damage, while cats are really noticeable and it’s easier to see when they’re about to swipe at you.

Lastly, I think I derailed your thread :-S sorry bout that XD

On topic: If there’s any buff that will be given for lacerating slash, I’d rather have it more bleed stacks or longer duration. The Arctodus I haven’t used much so I can’t really comment on it.

jubskie.3152:

I think we’re not on the same page. You seem to be focused on just DPS while I’m after utility with a bit of damage.

Wolf is definitely king for utility, but i feel that it lacks the damage that birds/cats bring. Cats on the other hand bring damage and just damage so it’s not as good a utility pet.

Yes, I agree that you don’t have to use 2 of the same type to be effective, but I just prefer birds over cats due to their size. Most people ignore my birds because it just swooping around them and it’s hard to determine when they actually deal their damage, while cats are really noticeable and it’s easier to see when they’re about to swipe at you.

Lastly, I think I derailed your thread :-S sorry bout that XD

On topic: If there’s any buff that will be given for lacerating slash, I’d rather have it more bleed stacks or longer duration. The Arctodus I haven’t used much so I can’t really comment on it.

I understand what you mean. :P

You make a good point. The birds are small and mobile, while the cats are all in your face.

Still, I feel like the eagle/hawk is all messed up. lol. Wouldn’t you agree that if Quickening Screech was an on-command attack, and Lacerating Scratch was a normal attack, that it’d be more effective? It’d be better for utility AND for damage.

zTales.4392:

jubskie.3152:

I think we’re not on the same page. You seem to be focused on just DPS while I’m after utility with a bit of damage.

Wolf is definitely king for utility, but i feel that it lacks the damage that birds/cats bring. Cats on the other hand bring damage and just damage so it’s not as good a utility pet.

Yes, I agree that you don’t have to use 2 of the same type to be effective, but I just prefer birds over cats due to their size. Most people ignore my birds because it just swooping around them and it’s hard to determine when they actually deal their damage, while cats are really noticeable and it’s easier to see when they’re about to swipe at you.

Lastly, I think I derailed your thread :-S sorry bout that XD

On topic: If there’s any buff that will be given for lacerating slash, I’d rather have it more bleed stacks or longer duration. The Arctodus I haven’t used much so I can’t really comment on it.

I understand what you mean. :P

You make a good point. The birds are small and mobile, while the cats are all in your face.

Still, I feel like the eagle/hawk is all messed up. lol. Wouldn’t you agree that if Quickening Screech was an on-command attack, and Lacerating Scratch was a normal attack, that it’d be more effective? It’d be better for utility AND for damage.

I agree with this, I see no point in an on-demand pet ability that you have to spam with absolutely no regard for the situation. I’d much rather have control over the swiftness.