Guild Wars 2

I’d like to see F5 on Rangers to be able to use our Pets’ long-CD ability.
No new strength added, nothing overpowered.

Just being able to control our pets.
Birds would no longer stop their DPS for a bad-designed swiftness (in-combat).
Moas would become useful with their heal.
Tanks pets would become a thing with Taunt+Defy Pain.
Devourers could be used for their CC.
You could sync your burst with your cats.
People would finally start using something else than Wolf Pet family.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to actually CONTROL our main mechanic that has been our handbrake ever since release?
I don’t even want anything new. I just want to be able to use what I already have when I feel like using it and not when developers think I wanted (right after swap in combat).

If there were a toggle option to enable “auto F5” then it would be perfect.
I would love to be able to manually use the skills you mentioned, but I wouldn’t like to have to manually press F5 for the felines and sometimes for the drakes.

I’ve already suggested something like this. It’s the most obvious thing to do to fix pets butt it’s just a first step and if it happens that will be in months if not years knowing Anet pace.
Im kinda mad that thief got their new F2 and engi got the F5 but no we ranger are still stuck with the poor AI design that would require so little change to work much better.

Actually, I already got used to pressing Bird’s Lacerating Slash that has 5 seconds CD.

And Drakes’ Tail Swipe blast has a cooldown of 30 seconds. I’d rather have to press 1 more button than have it miss the right moment such as being fully stacked on might or not in melee range of the stack or not in the Combo Field.

Absolutely agree

I was detailing this to someone else just this weekend. Pets have some decent abilities on long cooldowns …that they spam. Wolf-tackle would be great, if I could control it.

I’ve thought about something similar quite a while back, when theory crafting what a Ranger getting perma stow might mean. My best conclusion was stowing our pet granted the ability to be able to perform their skills ourselves, which results in a lot of them being pretty awesome. I get the feeling the skill 3s of our pets are as powerful as they are because our animal companions aren’t about to be accepted as Xiaolin monks for their martial arts.

Just for completeness’ sake, the full list of pet skills is available on the wiki. But skill 3s includes such gems as:
Brutal Charge – Still awesome in its current implementation.
Frenzied Attack – You thought it would be Harmonic screech, but no.
Devourer Retreat – 50/50 whether they use this or point blank shot in melee.
Brutal Charge 2 – Charging more Brutally
Poison Gas – Combo finishers last longer than this field. It also ticks 6 times and isn’t Immobilizing Web.
Fear – I’m under the impression the Shark thinks this is a gap closer.

I’m all for more control over our pets’ actions, so long as we’re still commanding another independent creature and not assuming direct control. Having to manually command auto-attacks probably wouldn’t play well or feel like the fantasy they’re aiming for.

I think if total control was the goal, they could roll desirable family skills into F2’s tomorrow and save you an extra button press.

I think it’s more about handling the level of micromanagement, because that can undermine the point of an AI companion. You kind of want them to be somewhat autonomous, or you may as well just get direct access to these abilities and call it a day.

…I say that, but it’s not like I’m championing for the status quo or don’t get where you’re coming from. I just think the whole Family Skill thing might not be a good direction at all.

I think Family Skills are a bit too Timing specific to be a good autonomous action, and I don’t see much value for them outside of that.

I can kind of see the argument on the basis of fostering a sense of cooperation between master and pet, as the casting times make much more sense in the context of providing Tells than they do puzzling balance considerations or surmountable animation quirks. I can imagine how good Drakes curling up so you can put down a combo field or Birds fluttering so you can get in range for their buff looks on paper, but it’s rarely worth the effort in practice. You sort of end up wrapping the leash around your forearm and dragging them down the road with Swap as the Poor Man’s F5, long before you’ll actually alter your play to meet them halfway and make good use their bending over backward to broadcast mediocrity.