Guild Wars 2

Pets have often been mentioned as being an extension of the Ranger. So critical to the class design philosophy that they can’t be permanently stowed. That’s why for these past years that this game has been out that it bums me out that pets don’t work like they should due to map/level/skill design taking them into consideration. There are many examples of this:

Mai Trin Fractal : At 75%/50%/25% health Mai Trin will jump away from the map. At this point the entire surface of the playing space fills up with AoE and there are no enemies to engage. You can only take damage. Instead of pets being taken into account for this and not receiving damage during this phase of the fight they invariably die because there aren’t any mechanics to counter the level design.

Jade Fractal : When the kraken is going to attack you it puts a mark on you. If you don’t pick up a crystal to absorb the attack you are immediately put into the downed state. The pet can be targeted by this without having a way to pick up a crystal or a way to dodge. All the player can do is swap pets before the pet gets killed and waste a swap. This is a critical design flaw.

I could go on and on but won’t. Ranger pets are designed poorly. Period.

I propose a Ranger specialization that doesn’t require the Ranger to have a pet. We are years overdue for the Ranger pets actually getting fixed. It’s fairly obvious to me that it isn’t going to happen so a Specialization of a petless Ranger spec would fix it.

Please finally address the issue.

I feel like all this would do is cause a rash amount of “Be this specialization or be kicked and ridiculed from every form of content its possible to be kicked from” Id still much rather the core problem be fixed.

Hell if we could get avoidance (pets recieve 70% less damage from any attack they aren’t the specific target of) it would go a long way to improving ranger pets in most content especially WvW. Other than that a method of reviving or reliably clearing conditions from my pet and id be fairly happy. (heal as one REALLY should revive a downed pet. Would work well with masters bond if it was changed not to reset on pet down)

Other than that. Basing future choices on old content isn’t something I can agree with.

Most content thats been released lately has all taken the pet into account (even the shard buffs in the LS chapters apply to the pet as well when you grab em). And even with the silverwaste bosses only ONE of them has a mechanic thats truly lethal to pets. And thats the teragriff boss of the vinewrath encounter (boss 3).

On the other hand. I can see why you would want a specialization focusing on the ranger itself. Im sure in the future that will be the case. I doubt the druid will be the one however from what I have seen.

But basing a future change on something like fractals or dungeon runs? Niether of those are the future of the game from what ive seen and read.

Reliable methods of helping the pet survive aoe. Reliable methods of reviving the pet when it does down. And a method of clearing conditions from the pet instead of GIVING conditions to the pet. Id like to get those before trying to abandon the pet entirely simply due to its performance in old content.

I would prefer they just make pets take less damage from AOE in PVE environments.

serow.6524:

I would prefer they just make pets take less damage from AOE in PVE environments.

haha we need htat in ALL environments atm. Not just pve

Even something simple that I’ve wanted and asked for since the release, a fourth F# skill that is a “go here” command. Instead of having to rely on the pets bad pathing when you tell it to come back. Sometimes there is a deadly aoe on your pet and between you and the pet and your only options are either to swap out the pet to instantly bring your second to you or tell it to return and have it walk straight through the aoe and die when there was a perfectly fine clear spot two steps behind it.

Also can we please fix it so pet names stick when you swap in a new one from the ‘kennel’ please, it makes pets feel really impersonal when they should be your best friends as a ranger.