Guild Wars 2

Just wondering how the community would feel for a GM BM trait that did the following:

You have two pets active at once. F4, instead of switching pets, now allows you to cast your second pet’s F2.

This might be a way to increase ranger damage and utility while still remaining within the confides of the current (broken) pet system.

My first reaction is that this would be insanely overpowered.

But then I remembered that they’re ranger pets.

So, that would be insanely overpowered against things that you could probably already beat anyways. And still no help against somewhat difficult things.

Basically, a lot like Master’s Bond.

Only if I can use two dogs and watch Warriors flood the forums with QQ about Ranger knockdown chains being too OP and then swiftly facepalm when Anet inevitably nerfs it because of said QQ.

Hyena + wolf + mistfirewolf + rune of the ogre.

Lets go.

Cufufalating.8479:

Hyena + wolf + mistfirewolf + rune of the ogre.

Lets go.

Hyena + wolf + hounds of balthazar+ runes of the orge + full spirits

10 minions what up

Ogre Pet Whistle.

So is this idea as hopeless/useless as the majority of the Ranger class?

The ranger class is not hopeless, while the idea you suggest would be fun as Clockwork Bard states it would be overpowered or what would happen is the base damage for all pet would have to be brought down due to this and that would have some pretty negative effects. Overall the idea is cool but not practical.

Fire elemental powder is far better than the ogre whistle.

Would you have 2 more on swap? That would be 14 straight seconds of hard CC plus cripple with 4 dogs.

If not, your 2 pets would be dead 100% of the time.

Nope… I would rather prefer ONE pet. I Think that would create a better “bonding-experience”

And of course! Make the pet remember its name!!!

I don’t like the idea much, relying even more on pets..

Substance E.4852:

Only if I can use two dogs and watch Warriors flood the forums with QQ about Ranger knockdown chains being too OP and then swiftly facepalm when Anet inevitably nerfs it because of said QQ.

Hounds of Balthazar, Hyena and shortbow.

enjoy the Q_Q

Ryan.9387:

Fire elemental powder is far better than the ogre whistle.

The guy was talking more along the lines of Ranger Pets. A fire elemental, no matter how much better, is hardly a Ranger type pet.

What if summoning a second pet (copy of current active, perhaps?) acted as an elite skill and had a set duration?

Aphoticrain.8420:

The ranger class is not hopeless, while the idea you suggest would be fun as Clockwork Bard states it would be overpowered or what would happen is the base damage for all pet would have to be brought down due to this and that would have some pretty negative effects. Overall the idea is cool but not practical.

Sorry, for the negativity, but I stopped playing Ranger a couple patches ago. I also think you misread the Bard’s statement. he does not in fact say that they would be overpowered. He says that this would help in situations where the pet doesn’t need any help and not do anything where they do need it.

In retrospect, this probably is a useless idea because pathing would still be wonky, moving targets would still deny hits, and AoE would still evaporate your pet putting you on 60s cycles instead of 20s cycles. So all in all an extra damage and F2 probably wouldn’t be worth the downsides.

Edit: I don’t WvW, but maybe a couple of Rangers could be used to take advantage of the 5 target AoE cap to survive a bit longer in a zerg?

So you want to encourage petting zoo, yes?

Sarision.6347:

So you want to encourage petting zoo, yes?

Petting Zoo? Is that summoned creature spam?

Pretty much AI spam.

I think some of the people replying need to re-read the original post. It said that this is a grandmaster trait. Grand master traits are supposed to define builds and be powerful. Right now one of our GM traits gives our pet 120 ish health regen, yeah because that’s really “grandmaster”. This would work well with a beastmaster build seeing as pets are borderline useless anyway.

I also think people need to understand the abbreviation “OP”, it stands for “over powered” not strong. Some people say things that are simply strong and very useful are “OP” and that’s kittened.

Sarision.6347:

Pretty much AI spam.

But other than cheap gimmicks and OHKs, AI in this game suck.

Sarision.6347:

Pretty much AI spam.

even with spirits and 2 pets, a ranger has less “AI spam” going on then a mesmer or minionmancer. So who cares…

Even thieves can spam AI’s…

you can have both fire ele and ogre pet if you activate both quick enough

warriorjrd.8695:

I think some of the people replying need to re-read the original post. It said that this is a grandmaster trait. Grand master traits are supposed to define builds and be powerful. Right now one of our GM traits gives our pet 120 ish health regen, yeah because that’s really “grandmaster”. This would work well with a beastmaster build seeing as pets are borderline useless anyway.

I also think people need to understand the abbreviation “OP”, it stands for “over powered” not strong. Some people say things that are simply strong and very useful are “OP” and that’s kittened.

The rough damage increase expected from a damage-boosting grandmaster trait is ~10%. This is found in traits like +20% damage to targets below 50% health found on Thief and Necromancer. Warriors have things like Berserker’s Power, which gives between 0% and 15% damage based on their current adrenaline level. The examples that go beyond this are few and far between, and are generally have niche uses like the engineer’s third grenade.

A permanent second pet would offer extra damage many times in excess of 10% and hardly limits the build. It’s major drawback, the pets dying, is something every ranger already has to deal with. It just multiplies that concern, and by proxy, multiplies the design problems and AI bugs that usually lead to it.

If we want a second pet mechanic, an elite skill would be a much more solid approach. The extra damage can be mitigated by controlling the uptime and cooldown to balance it with other elite skills. As a bonus, we wouldn’t have to worry about that second pet’s health. It was going to despawn after X seconds anyways, and won’t put our pet-swap on cooldown if it fades early.

Nice idea but if Ranger got dual pets Anet would just make them 75% less effective

Personally, I think it should be like the original Guild Wars. You get one pet that’s really good. Pet swapping could be replaced with another activated skill. Maybe like a pet’s “elite” skill

Cufufalating.8479:

Hyena + wolf + mistfirewolf + rune of the ogre.

Lets go.

+ Ogre Pet Whistle + mini-pet.

or Ogre Pet Whistle until bear pops up + brownbear…DOUBLE BEAR POWAH.

Grok Krog.9581:

Nice idea but if Ranger got dual pets Anet would just make them 75% less effective

Personally, I think it should be like the original Guild Wars. You get one pet that’s really good. Pet swapping could be replaced with another activated skill. Maybe like a pet’s “elite” skill

I’m all for this, but there was a post from ANet saying how this would be too hard and increase the learning curve of the class too much. Also, they scrapped the Alpha Strike Elite.

Also, I don’t think the other damage increasing traits can be closely compared because they can’t be killed and disabled independent of the class the way a pet can.

I wouldn’t called this overpowered.. I’d call it even more of a liability than anything with pets in their current state.

We’re already handicapped now from them dying too quickly; we don’t need even more of our dps taken away or another pet out there keeping us in combat.

DeadlySynz.3471:

I wouldn’t called this overpowered.. I’d call it even more of a liability than anything with pets in their current state.

We’re already handicapped now from them dying too quickly; we don’t need even more of our dps taken away or another pet out there keeping us in combat.

Yes, I don’t think this will work much in AoE situations, pet will still evaporate. However, in smaller scale battles having to pets will alleviate the situation since their are two targets to choose from. Have pet #1 go from the front and #2 from behind to avoid cleaves. Bears will finally be able to do their role w/o completely neutering your damage. Also, MB will always be up so that trait will become semi-worthwhile as well.

Hmm, now that would have been an interesting signet on a Legendary Bow, cut the cd time of Mistfirewolf in half.

unfortunately,2 pets with bad AI will not make much difference in pvp/wvw since they still can’t hit a moving target and they get one shotted easily.

1 pet with better AI will be a better alternative and actually make the ranger class “work as intended”

wauwi.9162:

Cufufalating.8479:

Hyena + wolf + mistfirewolf + rune of the ogre.

Lets go.

+ Ogre Pet Whistle + mini-pet.

Better yet:
Hyena + Hounds of Balth + Spirits + Ogre Pet Whistle + 4 Runes of Orge + 2 Runes of the Flock + Sigil of Demon Summoning + Mini Pet
=
Serious Pet Spam

I thought ogre whistles are removed from the game? The old vendor is selling ogre pet potion´s only.

Verdelet Arconia.6987:

unfortunately,2 pets with bad AI will not make much difference in pvp/wvw since they still can’t hit a moving target and they get one shotted easily.

1 pet with better AI will be a better alternative and actually make the ranger class “work as intended”

Yes one better pet, heck even one pet where we can control all the skills with an almost reasonable response-time would be better than now. But I don’t see that happening. When life gives you lemons…and to Cave Johnson out there no returning the lemons or making them combustible.

I know how bad pets can be in large-scale WvW. But how do pets fair in sPvP? You’d think that the 5v5 fights down to 1v1 duels would be more conducive to better pet play performance. Or are the sPvP master race so good that pet is rendered a non-entity?

P.S. I meant no offense to those out there that PvP.

Norjena.5172:

I thought ogre whistles are removed from the game? The old vendor is selling ogre pet potion´s only.

Oh no! I certainly hope not. I still have mine from a few months ago. But that’d suck if they aren’t sold anymore.