Guild Wars 2

I was testing the different bird pets in sPvP because the low CD bleed on Hawk and Eagle is pretty nice, but I realized they’re like the only species of pet that doesn’t have some sort of buff in the traits.

I’m looking at Rending Attacks, Stability Training, and Intimidation training.

These aren’t necessarily the best traits ever, but they open up interesting pet-centric opportunities in the trait line, and I’ve noticed that birds seem left out.

If I had to put them in one of the categories existing, I think Rending Attacks would be the best place. Is there some sort of balancing reason birds were left out?

Malicious training on Marksmanship can help you

Vigorous training used to only apply to birds (and moas?).

I’m hoping this is the start of them removing those traits, as the only one that even makes sense really is the one for cats. The canine trait is actually a hindrance to their F2 skills.

I already traited for Malicious Training in Marks, which is great for the birds, I think.

Vigorous training appears to apply to all pets as long as there is a switch made.

As far as phasing these traits out, they have a really cool idea and I think something like them belongs in the BM trait line. I do think their execution could use some clean-up, but the principle of how they work, adding another layer of utility or damage to a pet, is interesting.

wait wait, more importantly; Why can’t birds fly? shouldn’t they just raise elevation then dive with the speed and fury of dragon?

I wish pets had their own trait lines, for greater customization.

That said, I use Owl/Raven – mostly for aesthetic reasons, as I don’t consider pets a significant part of my build – but I do like the Chill on the Owl’s attacks – it’s a nice way to open up with a bow before closing in with Sword/Warhorn.

sanictoofast.9317:

wait wait, more importantly; Why can’t birds fly? shouldn’t they just raise elevation then dive with the speed and fury of dragon?

or make their F2’s like the griffon attack where it flies up and evades then strikes. Whether that be the respective trait for the birds or make it default. that’d be a nice buff for birds.

I’d also like more bird based utilities.

I use Call Owl on my Norn Ranger, because I actually wanted to make a ‘Hawker" style Ranger – I use a Warhorn for Hunter’s Call, and I use two birds. I’d like another utility and an elite based on birds.

The problem with the bird bleed is the fact that it’s a long duration bleed rather than mutliple short duration bleeds. It makes the bleed very unreliable because it deals it’s damage over a long period of time and is very suspectible against condi cleanses.

For a 30 second CD skill that does a decent amount for a single strike, and a decent bleed on top of that, it’s worth taking.

I do think it could use some improvement (maybe it should chill as well), but I find it rather useful.

It’s also a 1200 range skill – when I run Sword/Horn, I like to soften up my targets at range before closing with them, which is why I use Off Hand Training (increased range on Hunter’s Call, as well as more Call’s with the reduced CD), and Call Owl works great as a ranged attack while I am using Sword.