Guild Wars 2

So, my ranger has been 80 for a decent while but I’ve never actually played it until recently; thus, I consider myself pretty new to the class. I got a little bored of other classes so I think I should try it[ranger] out. Since the class is supposed to be attached to pets, I tried various pet builds, including both supporting pet and pet-centric builds… my question is..

Why are pets so broken? Like, not just a minor nuisance here and there but seriously broken..

I first tried supporting pet builds, you know, pet buffs and what not but they were so slow to react to cambat situation. For example, I wanted my moa to give me fury before I enter combat but then I had to wait for it to acknowledge the command, then I had to wait for it to cast, THEN I could enter the fight… which, by the time, I already lost my first mover advantage.. not to mention that most of the time pets just simply went kittened by not activating skills at all yet they went on cooldown (what!?) It’s even worse when two pets and pet swap were required in my combo chain. It’s clunky, broken and ruined my combat flow entirely…

But I was still hopeful… so I moved to pet-centric builds, the ones that let pets do all their things while my ranger supported them… Yeah… they took forever to get to the target, they were rooted (what!?) while they were hitting and they had ridiculously short range of attack which mean if my enemies have swiftness my pets are worth nothing and again.. skills failed to activate. To top it up, pet skills are also very weak, for example, Drake skills, like seriously…. it took forever to channel and even if my drakes managed to pull it off it would only take 1 shuffle for my enemies to get out of the attack range.

But I was still hopeful… so I thought about it.. maybe I was doing something wrong, like, maybe I didn’t use pets correctly and then I thought about it.. you know, there’s a chance that all those ranger pets are tied to the game general pets, which means anet can’t change these pets — allowing them to attack while on the move, lowering channeling time, increasing skill effectiveness, etc. without breaking the whole game. But I thought I was imagining things so I looked on the forum… and it seems that that might be the case… which is, if true, very stupid. Why? why on earth would you just reuse the in-game mobs in the first place ? Didn’t you have any common sense to realize that they [generic mobs and mobs under player control] have totally different purposes and thus require totally different basis for their setups?

I am now hopeless.. as I might just wasted hundreds of golds gearing this char for nothing….

you better grab another class until anet do something wich i doubt

Op, everything you stated are truthful and accurate. It is a SHAME that even a new player sees how broken our pets are.

Now… all I’m waiting for is someone to call you a Liar and delusional, for seeing the truth.

Op, here is a list of our unjustified intentional punishable nerfs by Arena.net; all in the name of “Balance” and for the pleasures of those who want to keep us down.

We were their Black sheep and Scapegoat Class since day 1, till this day, we remain their Black sheep and Scapegoat class.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/List-of-Nerfs

You are not alone for being victimized and abused of this False Hope scheme for the Ranger class.

In conclusion,

As the saying goes, “follow the path of Justice, run away from the path of InJustice”

Op,

You will not find Justice here.

Take Dina Van Heyr advice and don’t look back.

They need to disassociate regular mob with ranger mob. I don’t get why they are so adamant in keeping the current system. Just seems so simple to reuse and keep the models/animation the same, but use a separate mob ai table. Just change out those few dozen pets and get it over with.

They say they can’t fix current pets without breaking all the regular mobs… then just make pets separate!

If they can’t fix it, they should at least put a big bandaid…

Pets working as intended.

Welcome to 12 months ago.

Oh look another one of these threads…. Maybe we should just make a sticky with every single one of them at the top so people stop making them….

We know pets are broken, we know our utilities are about as exciting as watching paint dry, and we know we have no real theme to the class.

Did I mention our pets are unresponsive and have poor AI? I feel like the 15 other threads on the front post saying that may have not covered it…

same problem. we do get a consolation because rangers own underwater combat.. not that it’s relevant)

Durzlla.6295:

Oh look another one of these threads…. Maybe we should just make a sticky with every single one of them at the top so people stop making them….

We know pets are broken, we know our utilities are about as exciting as watching paint dry, and we know we have no real theme to the class.

Did I mention our pets are unresponsive and have poor AI? I feel like the 15 other threads on the front post saying that may have not covered it…

1. Before you try to sound condescending, first try to get some clues. I put it loud and clear that this is a rant thread not an acknowledgement thread. And when I say I’m new to the class, it’s implying that I never experienced these problems first-handed. It should be common sense to know that wtf thread like this will happen .

2. Yes, all the rant threads should be sticky so the devs realize the extent of its(pet system) ridiculousness. I’m not even complaining about pets strength/nurfs/buffs I’m complaining about their fundamental mechanics.

3. Or all the ranger players should keep their mouth shut so ranger will always be number one target for my mesmer. I guess that’s what you want to happen, judging from what you’ve written.

4. Try to actually read before you comment.

I’ve been on these forums since beta, these threads come up every kittening 5 minutes and bring up the same kittening problems every god kitten time.

It’s not a matter of “oh if we don’t say anything the devs won’t know!” The devs KNOW the problems, they’ve been here for a kittening year and we have been complaining about them for that long. They’ve even acknowledged them and just haven’t done anything about it.

So sorry that me, and many of the other veteran rangers are kinda sick of seeing this kitten pop up.

PS: I don’t know what’s worse, the fact these problems are still around or the fact I knew exactly what your thread was about without even reading your post.

Durzlla.6295:

I get where you’re coming from. However, saying that they know about it so we shouldn’t post about it, is the wrong answer. That’s what they want.

They would like nothing better than to never see a single post about this topic again, or any complaint for that matter. The only thing anyone can do to try and see this changed or any problem changed, is report it and post about it.

How do you think mesmers got their izerker fixed? They kept that post up top and made new posts every day about it. Finally it got fixed.

The match-up threads are suppose to be gone right now, but they’re still here. People didn’t stop posting about how they didn’t want them gone.

Yes, I know that there’s a 100% chance nothing will be done, doesn’t mean you have to accept it and just keep quiet about it. If you asked me, I’d say every ranger make a thread about the topic, fill up the next 3-4 pages of new topics on how horrible the pet is.

That’s just me though.

I agree 100%. The best thing I find if you really want to enjoy the Ranger class is to just ignore your pet all together. It doesn’t provide even remotely close to the 40% damage it’s supposed to. Keep whatever pets in your stable that will help you stay alive. Perhaps the bear to remove conditions or the wolf for the occasional knock down or fear (if it works 1 out of the 10 times you hit F2).

Even though I’d really like the pet to be useful, just gearing myself in full glass cannon, does more damage than people seem to think. About 25% more than a warrior and necro traited for pure damage.

Now it’d be nice to do the same damage with my pet taking 40% of it while increasing my survivability. If the pet was actually made to give us a good 40% damage boost, if I added that into the damage I did now, it’d be ridiculously stupid just how much more I’d be doing than other classes. I wouldn’t complain about it though.

The difference between iZerker and our pet is that iZerker was literally bugged, our pets just have bad AI, which Anet has acknowledge and have also said it’s likely not gonna change because it’s tied into the AI of mobs (god forbid PvE became challenging)

DeadlySynz.3471:

I agree 100%. The best thing I find if you really want to enjoy the Ranger class is to just ignore your pet all together.

…………

No wonder why you guys getting kicked out of each dundgeon/fractal.

jaguar stalk + sic’em + RaO = 5k crits. (from the normal 1.5-2k each hit)

Yeah ignore them! Get a bear and a LB and stay at 1500m range with all passive signets. That’s gonna help!

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

DeadlySynz.3471:

I agree 100%. The best thing I find if you really want to enjoy the Ranger class is to just ignore your pet all together.

…………

No wonder why you guys getting kicked out of each dundgeon/fractal.

jaguar stalk + sic’em + RaO = 5k crits. (from the normal 1.5-2k each hit)

Yeah ignore them! Get a bear and a LB and stay at 1500m range with all passive signets. That’s gonna help!

At least if you use a Moa with a LB the Moa will be giving boons (if you use the F2) and healing the guys in Melee…

Durzlla.6295:

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

DeadlySynz.3471:

I agree 100%. The best thing I find if you really want to enjoy the Ranger class is to just ignore your pet all together.

…………

No wonder why you guys getting kicked out of each dundgeon/fractal.

jaguar stalk + sic’em + RaO = 5k crits. (from the normal 1.5-2k each hit)

Yeah ignore them! Get a bear and a LB and stay at 1500m range with all passive signets. That’s gonna help!

At least if you use a Moa with a LB the Moa will be giving boons (if you use the F2) and healing the guys in Melee…

The only one that has a kinda-worthy special skill is the red moa for furry, but you should have a warhorn for that anyways. Also their damage is terrible.

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

Durzlla.6295:

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

DeadlySynz.3471:

I agree 100%. The best thing I find if you really want to enjoy the Ranger class is to just ignore your pet all together.

…………

No wonder why you guys getting kicked out of each dundgeon/fractal.

jaguar stalk + sic’em + RaO = 5k crits. (from the normal 1.5-2k each hit)

Yeah ignore them! Get a bear and a LB and stay at 1500m range with all passive signets. That’s gonna help!

At least if you use a Moa with a LB the Moa will be giving boons (if you use the F2) and healing the guys in Melee…

The only one that has a kinda-worthy special skill is the red moa for furry, but you should have a warhorn for that anyways. Also their damage is terrible.

well if you’re using a longbow as i said in the situation you probably would be wanting to be busting out that warhorn for buffing the guys all the way up in melee range… just sayin lol.

Also, the prot is really nice too, and the heal, and the interrupt moas are nice in PvP because it’s an AoE and you still get their heal.

Do everything to not rely on the pet for anything except for soaking up some conditions or damage (protectme). That said a tanking or buffing pet is probably best, left on passive except when you see an enemy that it could probably attack reasonably well.

Tricare.2946:

How do you think mesmers got their izerker fixed? They kept that post up top and made new posts every day about it. Finally it got fixed.

iWarden got a fix too. It now moves to its target.

if you want a tanky pet that does reasonable DPS and dont just sit there, get a darn drake. It provides a blast finisher to blast the firefields in melee range.

Prysin.8542:

if you want a tanky pet that does reasonable DPS and dont just sit there, get a darn drake. It provides a blast finisher to blast the firefields in melee range.

Not to mention it is the ONLY pet whose attacks cleave, it also does more damage than canines by default, and completely trumps cats and birds once you’re up against more than one enemy at a time.

Durzlla.6295:

Prysin.8542:

if you want a tanky pet that does reasonable DPS and dont just sit there, get a darn drake. It provides a blast finisher to blast the firefields in melee range.

Not to mention it is the ONLY pet whose attacks cleave, it also does more damage than canines by default, and completely trumps cats and birds once you’re up against more than one enemy at a time.

And therein lies a problem: exactly 5 pets out of the whole menagerie (45 pets?) cleave. Why they didn’t make it so the majority of melee pets cleave is beyond me. Its not as if it exactly breaks PvE or even PvP.

edit: I can’t count, apparently.

Shadow Phage.9084:

Durzlla.6295:

Prysin.8542:

if you want a tanky pet that does reasonable DPS and dont just sit there, get a darn drake. It provides a blast finisher to blast the firefields in melee range.

Not to mention it is the ONLY pet whose attacks cleave, it also does more damage than canines by default, and completely trumps cats and birds once you’re up against more than one enemy at a time.

And therein lies a problem: exactly 5 pets out of the whole menagerie (45 pets?) cleave. Why they didn’t make it so the majority of melee pets cleave is beyond me. Its not as if it exactly breaks PvE or even PvP.

edit: I can’t count, apparently.

It kinda makes sense honestly, you can only really bite one thing at a time unless you’re a big kitten lizard…. Personally I think bears and boars should cleave too to make them more desire able, the DPS pets are fine, the tanky ones need some love.

Durzlla.6295:

Shadow Phage.9084:

Durzlla.6295:

Prysin.8542:

if you want a tanky pet that does reasonable DPS and dont just sit there, get a darn drake. It provides a blast finisher to blast the firefields in melee range.

Not to mention it is the ONLY pet whose attacks cleave, it also does more damage than canines by default, and completely trumps cats and birds once you’re up against more than one enemy at a time.

And therein lies a problem: exactly 5 pets out of the whole menagerie (45 pets?) cleave. Why they didn’t make it so the majority of melee pets cleave is beyond me. Its not as if it exactly breaks PvE or even PvP.

edit: I can’t count, apparently.

It kinda makes sense honestly, you can only really bite one thing at a time unless you’re a big kitten lizard…. Personally I think bears and boars should cleave too to make them more desire able, the DPS pets are fine, the tanky ones need some love.

Well, yeah. I’m not suggesting something like hawks/eagles/owls cleave on their attacks, that’d just be kinda sillly. But for things like: bears; boars; and maybe cats; cleaving on their AA skills wouldn’t be absurd. Things like Chomp, Bite, etc that clearly would/should only ever hit one target, should continue to do so. It’d certainly help out Ranger DPS in PvE so we aren’t essentially buff bots.

In PvP, well, if you’re getting multiple targets with cleave attacks, they probably deserve it. They either positioned really poorly or you outplayed them.

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

Durzlla.6295:

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

DeadlySynz.3471:

I agree 100%. The best thing I find if you really want to enjoy the Ranger class is to just ignore your pet all together.

…………

No wonder why you guys getting kicked out of each dundgeon/fractal.

jaguar stalk + sic’em + RaO = 5k crits. (from the normal 1.5-2k each hit)

Yeah ignore them! Get a bear and a LB and stay at 1500m range with all passive signets. That’s gonna help!

At least if you use a Moa with a LB the Moa will be giving boons (if you use the F2) and healing the guys in Melee…

The only one that has a kinda-worthy special skill is the red moa for furry, but you should have a warhorn for that anyways. Also their damage is terrible.

Warhorn + red moa = perma fury with traits.

100% up time of fury on the whole team is a lot better than a couple of high crits from a cat if you can’t have both for some reason.

Durzlla.6295:

It kinda makes sense honestly, you can only really bite one thing at a time unless you’re a big kitten lizard….

I’ll just leave this here: http://www.wow-petopia.com/look/hydraskinwhiteghost.html

Substance E.4852:

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

Durzlla.6295:

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

DeadlySynz.3471:

I agree 100%. The best thing I find if you really want to enjoy the Ranger class is to just ignore your pet all together.

…………

No wonder why you guys getting kicked out of each dundgeon/fractal.

jaguar stalk + sic’em + RaO = 5k crits. (from the normal 1.5-2k each hit)

Yeah ignore them! Get a bear and a LB and stay at 1500m range with all passive signets. That’s gonna help!

At least if you use a Moa with a LB the Moa will be giving boons (if you use the F2) and healing the guys in Melee…

The only one that has a kinda-worthy special skill is the red moa for furry, but you should have a warhorn for that anyways. Also their damage is terrible.

Warhorn + red moa = perma fury with traits.

100% up time of fury on the whole team is a lot better than a couple of high crits from a cat if you can’t have both for some reason.

actually, red moa fury is bugged. It does not scale properly with boon duration, NOR with the trait that increases the duration of boons given by pets (tried and tested)

Red Moa fury never goes over 15 seconds.
I tested it with a 100% boon duration build, both with and without the trait. It never went past it’s original 15 second duration. Bug has been reported atleast 4 times since October. Nothing has been done.

Ranger pets, we need more diversity, they need to fulfill more roles, they need more power/functionality/reliability. If they refuse to give them more brutal DPS (understandable since it would wreck havoc on the PvE side if tanky pets could hit as hard as todays DPS pets), if they refuse to upgrade the AI because it will force them to redesign the general monster AI, if they refuse to give pets more HP and/or toughness. Then they might as well make more of them.

Ill rather choose from 100 half-broken pets then 45 completely broken ones that wont get fixed.

just play another class friend… that’s the best advice.

Durzlla.6295:

Prysin.8542:

if you want a tanky pet that does reasonable DPS and dont just sit there, get a darn drake. It provides a blast finisher to blast the firefields in melee range.

Not to mention it is the ONLY pet whose attacks cleave, it also does more damage than canines by default, and completely trumps cats and birds once you’re up against more than one enemy at a time.

I find drakes are the worst pet for actually hitting the enemy. I mean, the blast finisher actually roots the pet. It does deal nice damage, but it doesn’t hit very often.

Durzlla.6295:

The difference between iZerker and our pet is that iZerker was literally bugged, our pets just have bad AI, which Anet has acknowledge and have also said it’s likely not gonna change because it’s tied into the AI of mobs (god forbid PvE became challenging)

Wait, what? I’ve been gone from the forums for quite a few weeks. Who said this and when was it said????

Durzlla.6295:

Oh look another one of these threads…. Maybe we should just make a sticky with every single one of them at the top so people stop making them….

We know pets are broken, we know our utilities are about as exciting as watching paint dry, and we know we have no real theme to the class.

Did I mention our pets are unresponsive and have poor AI? I feel like the 15 other threads on the front post saying that may have not covered it…

lol good to see not much has changed! (and ee you again) xD
jk…that’s really unfortunate that we still have this problem. I take it there have been a bunch of random band-aid fixes instead of actual revamps like I used to suggest?

thefantasticg.3984:

Durzlla.6295:

The difference between iZerker and our pet is that iZerker was literally bugged, our pets just have bad AI, which Anet has acknowledge and have also said it’s likely not gonna change because it’s tied into the AI of mobs (god forbid PvE became challenging)

Wait, what? I’ve been gone from the forums for quite a few weeks. Who said this and when was it said????

It was said quite a while ago, i’m pretty sure a month or two, my friend gave me the link to it, i’ll try and find it again (should really bookmark that thing).

If anyone else has the link please feel free to link it.

EDIT: Having a hell of a time finding this quote… I could be wrong…

warriorjrd.8695:

Durzlla.6295:

Prysin.8542:

if you want a tanky pet that does reasonable DPS and dont just sit there, get a darn drake. It provides a blast finisher to blast the firefields in melee range.

Not to mention it is the ONLY pet whose attacks cleave, it also does more damage than canines by default, and completely trumps cats and birds once you’re up against more than one enemy at a time.

I find drakes are the worst pet for actually hitting the enemy. I mean, the blast finisher actually roots the pet. It does deal nice damage, but it doesn’t hit very often.

Yeah…. gotta say drakes may do A LOT of damage, all of which is AoE, but my god do both their F2’s and their actual attacks not land very often…. Both in PvE AND PvP

Durzlla.6295:

thefantasticg.3984:

Durzlla.6295:

The difference between iZerker and our pet is that iZerker was literally bugged, our pets just have bad AI, which Anet has acknowledge and have also said it’s likely not gonna change because it’s tied into the AI of mobs (god forbid PvE became challenging)

Wait, what? I’ve been gone from the forums for quite a few weeks. Who said this and when was it said????

It was said quite a while ago, i’m pretty sure a month or two, my friend gave me the link to it, i’ll try and find it again (should really bookmark that thing).

If anyone else has the link please feel free to link it.

EDIT: Having a hell of a time finding this quote… I could be wrong…

Ask and ye shall receive (assuming this is the one you wanted):

Summoned creature AI is a different can of worms that we aren’t opening for the same reason. Pets that delay F2 use isn’t some wait script we put into their skills it has to do with core AI behavior shared by all pets and creatures and how they decide tasks. Rewriting that has the risks of breaking millions of unknown things so we have up until now band aided the solution. It is something that needs addressing but won’t be addressed until we can kitten how and when we will test it.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/December-10th-Ranger-changes/page/8#post3162139

Prysin.8542:

actually, red moa fury is bugged. It does not scale properly with boon duration, NOR with the trait that increases the duration of boons given by pets (tried and tested)

Red Moa fury never goes over 15 seconds.
I tested it with a 100% boon duration build, both with and without the trait. It never went past it’s original 15 second duration. Bug has been reported atleast 4 times since October. Nothing has been done.

Yes I call it bugged too, but here is how it works:

1. Only Concentration Training increases the boon duration of skills used by pets
2. The pet has to be in combat mode for the trait to work.

Yes, the pet has to be in combat mode. It can not be passive. The Ranger being in combat mode does NOT count (unless the pet in on aggressive mode). However, there is a workaround to this bug:

1. get Concentration Training and a Red Moa
2. select a target you can attack
3. press F1 to put the passive Red Moa into combat mode (happens instantly)
4. press F2 right after to make the Red Moa apply Fury (24 seconds of Fury)
5. press F3 after the Fury is applied to prevent the Red Moa from running off.

Voila, near permanent Fury.

Shadow Phage.9084:

Durzlla.6295:

thefantasticg.3984:

Durzlla.6295:

The difference between iZerker and our pet is that iZerker was literally bugged, our pets just have bad AI, which Anet has acknowledge and have also said it’s likely not gonna change because it’s tied into the AI of mobs (god forbid PvE became challenging)

Wait, what? I’ve been gone from the forums for quite a few weeks. Who said this and when was it said????

It was said quite a while ago, i’m pretty sure a month or two, my friend gave me the link to it, i’ll try and find it again (should really bookmark that thing).

If anyone else has the link please feel free to link it.

EDIT: Having a hell of a time finding this quote… I could be wrong…

Ask and ye shall receive (assuming this is the one you wanted):

Summoned creature AI is a different can of worms that we aren’t opening for the same reason. Pets that delay F2 use isn’t some wait script we put into their skills it has to do with core AI behavior shared by all pets and creatures and how they decide tasks. Rewriting that has the risks of breaking millions of unknown things so we have up until now band aided the solution. It is something that needs addressing but won’t be addressed until we can kitten how and when we will test it.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/December-10th-Ranger-changes/page/8#post3162139

That is exactly what i’m looking for!! Thanks!!

totally bookmarking that….

Oh, yes. That qoute I knew about. I just hadn’t heard that point of the qoute being restated in such a manner.

DavyMcB.1603:

But I was still hopeful… so I thought about it.. maybe I was doing something wrong, like, maybe I didn’t use pets correctly and then I thought about it.. you know, there’s a chance that all those ranger pets are tied to the game general pets, which means anet can’t change these pets — allowing them to attack while on the move, lowering channeling time, increasing skill effectiveness, etc. without breaking the whole game. But I thought I was imagining things so I looked on the forum… and it seems that that might be the case… which is, if true, very stupid. Why? why on earth would you just reuse the in-game mobs in the first place ? Didn’t you have any common sense to realize that they [generic mobs and mobs under player control] have totally different purposes and thus require totally different basis for their setups?

You hit the nail on the head with this.

It’s true this is like the bazillionth post on it, but the fact that a new player can figure out the root problem so fast is hilarious. Kudo’s to you.

And yes, they can’t fix it. I even think I remember a dev stating as such last year(2012). It’s very disheartening, eh?

Op, you made a mistake when you tried pet builds.
The only way you can play a Ranger is to micro manage it sure, but NEVER rely on it. Think like a lottery really.

This whole stealing code from PvE mobs garbage doesn’t sound too good an excuse. Why can’t they just create a whole new class of pets just for rangers with their own function but same skin?