Guild Wars 2

Ok, so with this post I plan to lay out some new possible Ranger changes to fix the problems with the Pet mechanic and make up for it without harming Players that like to use Pets.

A few weeks ago I gave up on my Ranger and made a Warrior because I got tired of the changes that were being made to Ranger and nothing being done about the Pet’s A.I.
At first I really liked the Warrior, they have good DPS and can burst down opponents, but recently I’ve realised that I don’t find following enemys using skills to catch up and then using stuns to keep them down while I burst. I know the Warrior is meant to be very offensive but I came to the conclusion that I would just use my Warrior for Zerging.

Now, after trying out every other class, this brought me back to my Ranger. ‘Sigh….’

But instead of just quitting the game for a while, ive been thinking though lots of different ways to fix the Ranger pet mechanic

(You can skip to here if you like)

So here are the suggestions.

Rangers Pet Mechanic is removed as a permanent pet for the Ranger an instead is moved to an elite skill. (This will work in the same way as the spirit skills and the skill will have to recharge when the pet is dead.) The pet does not take stats from the ranger. The pet is Additional damage.

The Ranger mechanic is changed to an Initiative Bar (Name can be changed), kinda like the Warriors adrenaline so it charges while in combat. Maybe every time the Ranger is hit or dodges an attack?

The charged skill can be pre determind by the Ranger just like any other slot skill, some ideas I have were;
- Nature Calls (Gain 50% movement speed for 5 seconds) -

- Camouflage (Stay hidden all the time you are not moving, but you will be left in combat stance the whole time you are in this form, When attacked you lose camouflage) -

- Rangers Rath (Drain your initiative dealing extra damage) -

These are just some suggestions for some skills for that. I’m sure there are a lot of other people that could come up with some better suggestions.

And even though I’m sure ArenaNet will ignore this post how would you guys feel if they did make changes like these or similar?

The pet is more viable. The ranger has a cool new mechanic making it a harder class to fight and doesn’t make it op.

it’s a win win

Well, I just wrote a lengthy idea and forums said that something went wrong….

If you are using chrome you might be able to keep going back until you get to the post reply page and it might still be there.

How about something like that.
F are skills that gathers specific kind of spirit (fire,water,earth,air). Each charging in certain conditions and granting special effect

- fire charges when attacking, grant aoe blind on next hit
- water charges when gaining health, aoe heal
- earth charges when getting hit, invulnerability or apply root on the next hit
- air charges when evading dmg, quickness or evades

These aren’t the best ideas for skills granted by each spirits so if you have suggestions, i’d gladly listen

My idea (short) was to make the ranger have 4 stances. Each stance has a passive when it’s activated and each stance does something special when it ends/is activated. The pet system, instead of having it as an elite, is used by these stances.

Each stance has a cooldown of 30s and activating one stance will make the others go on kitten cooldown.

Stance 1:
Camouflage – The ranger gains camouflage and opening strike (20s CD). This is ended by any action. A pet chosen for this stance will be summoned for 20s if the opening strike is consumed.

Stance 2:
Awareness – The ranger uses his environments to blind every enemy around him when attacked for 2s (10s CD). On activation, a pet is summoned (20s) and the ranger deflects 2 attacks from each enemy for 2 seconds.

Stance 3:
Precise shot – <I lost my creativity and forgot what this one was, it was probably something with damaging adjacent foes>

Stance 4:
Scout – The ranger gains movement speed (25%?) and 100% endurance regeneration. Ends if attacked/attacking, summons a pet (20s) and grants <insert effect>

Pets attack the last target that was attacked by the ranger, if there is no target, the pet follows the ranger.

The goal of this system is to give the rangers 4 different stances that each give a benefit in certain situation.
Let’s say there are situations called A B C D
Each stance would be very effective in a certain situation, but still give benefit in others.
Stance 1 is effective in situation A, B
Stance 2 … B, C
Stance 3 … C, D
Stance 4 … D, A

None of the stances scale with a certain build. That is, none of them will ONLY improve power builds or condition builds. The stances are there to provide a benefit to any build.

FYI: “kitten” in this means FIVE SECONDS

One thing no “stance” but “preparation”, and it’s pure awesome.

Well, it would worth some thinking what IF the pets can be ordered just as we control the Nanosuit in Crysis? With that wheel menu, its not complicated, and very fast to handle.

Seisyll.5914:

How about something like that.
F are skills that gathers specific kind of spirit (fire,water,earth,air). Each charging in certain conditions and granting special effect

solrik.6028:

My idea (short) was to make the ranger have 4 stances. Each stance has a passive when it’s activated and each stance does something special when it ends/is activated. The pet system, instead of having it as an elite, is used by these stances.

I like both of your ideas… They actually make from some interesting ways to play the ranger.

Hope ArenaNet actually does something with this class soon

Dudes, 3 things have to be said

1) ANet does not consider this thread so your ideas will be watched by players but not developers. so it’s not worth the effort

2) Even if ANet would read this thread. WHY should it improve the ranger class according to your ideas. They didn’t improve the pet system why should they implement this ideas?

3) And finally. Your ideas are not the worst i’ve seen but they remind me of warrior and elementalist classes. If you want to bring new ideas up then bring something unique.

Troopa.6179:

Dudes, 3 things have to be said

1) ANet does not consider this thread so your ideas will be watched by players but not developers. so it’s not worth the effort

2) Even if ANet would read this thread. WHY should it improve the ranger class according to your ideas. They didn’t improve the pet system why should they implement this ideas?

3) And finally. Your ideas are not the worst i’ve seen but they remind me of warrior and elementalist classes. If you want to bring new ideas up then bring something unique.

1) It’s your own opinion. The same thing was told before WoW’s Lich King when pallies were placing loads of ideas how to improve their class. Sad thing though was that those ideas were used to create Death Knight.

2) They didn’t improve pet system, because they want to improve AI to act intelligent with things they have now, which is bad approach. I worked a little in this topic and I know it’s pretty hard to create something that acts intelligently without creating tons of complicated mechanics to make it work. I don’t say it has to be specifically my idea, as my idea is complicated to begin with, but we just like to share ideas and hear some feedback, not necessarily from developers.

3) I am aware of that, but right now we are trying to come up with something that won’t necessarily change the whole class (as most of us play/played disregarding the pets)