It has been openly admitted that rangers have unimaginative traits, and widely known that pets currently are less than useful. So instead of listing what is broken, or what traits need buffed, i decided to list some changes that i think would lead to considerably more interesting game play and specs for rangers.
Firstly, as it has been requested in pretty much every thread on here, rangers need a lone ranger option. This should be in the marksmanship trait tree, ideally a second tier trait it will increase the damage dealt by the ranger by ~50% when the pet is stowed. However doing this brings up the question of balancing pets to fit this as with this trait, why would anyone not spec and use it.
Pet Revamp
So pets are bad, we all know this. I think it would be an idea to add a f bar ability to pets, this when pressed causes the ranger to shout at the pet, the pet will then attempt to avoid an attack and if hit takes massively reduced damage. This should fix the lack of AI for getting out of the red circle but makes it a micro managed skill, so if ur pet does die of an aoe, its your fault.
Next, the main change to pet/rangers (which would take some serious balance and trait tweaks) is what i like to call the Bond System.
Bond System
Like attunements and guardians virtues, these are passive abilities, that require the presence of a pet. The type of bond is purely dependent on the equipped pet.
A cat pet would increase the movement speed of the ranger and add a default bleed to all attacks(if your attack already causes a bleed, it is stacked so two bleeds would be applied),
Using a moa bird/fern hound would grant health regen to the group on every attack
A bear would grant improved vitality and toughness etc.
I’m not listing them all but you get the point, there should be 5-6 different bonds available from pets, imo this will lead to interesting mechanics/game play. The BM trait line would now be changed to improve the benefits of the bonds given by pets.
One of the more controversial/crappy ideas i have is it remove barrage from longbow and add it as a utility skill. Similar to eles Glyph of storms, what the skills does will depend on the weapon equipped, and its condition damage/other effect will depend on the pet bond available. This gives all ranger specs a viable and interesting aoe skill(i would remove sharpening stones). The replacement longbow skill should be targeted shot, it should take 1-2 seconds to charge, and when fully changed it negates armor leaving the opponent with vun stacks, it also does a decent amount of damage.
Obviously there’s more that could be changed, i just think instead of complaining about spirits and signets id add a new idea to the table