Guild Wars 2

I’ve come across a large problem with pet AI. Whenever a target is stealthed, the pets not only lose target but lose all reason to attack the enemy player after the enemy player leaves stealth.

As a ranger, pets are a large portion of our damage but they are useless in situations that require precise movements and timing. Pets don’t have any sense of movement, they are designed to hit a target that stands still.

Not only that but a thief that times their stealth skills correctly can completely avoid any damage from the pet. Pets lack responsiveness, they have short pauses before attacking anything.

If one player stealths, he can hit me for free while within stealth. That’s fine but my pet becomes completely useless for that duration. When he leaves stealth he still can get the first few nonstealth hits on me before my pet realizes he’s attacking me and comes to my defense. Add in the time it takes for my pet to respond that he’s an enemy, the time it takes for my pet to run/fly over to him, and the time it takes for my pet to do a fancy animation before actually attacking (granted the enemy is standing relatively still) and we have a method of trumping the pet AI system completely.

Our pets need to react to danger a little faster, they should instantly attack a target when they come within melee range, and if a thief attacks you while in stealth, the pet should be able to attack that thief just like i would swing my sword at an invisible thief if I knew their location.

I hate to say it but rangers are weighed down by our pets, at least in PvP. If you tacked on the extra damage and health of the pet onto the ranger, we would be way more viable.

Yes I agree, now these are some necessary changes, rather than removing the idea of pets that people keep wanting… lol PvP is difficult with rangers indeed, the pets are mostly fine in PvE at least for me, there has been practically no issues with my style and technique. for pvp I’d say maybe keep pets for the defensive tricks i.e. protect me + stone signet and pets that gives u buffs? stuff like that…?

The best part?

Mesmer pets automatically lock back on to targets after they come out of stealth, their pet attacks are really good at hitting the target, they can go through walls and just magically appear through LoS and other normally inaccessible areas, they can be destroyed to create CC and can be resummoned with a very short CD, and you can have two of these beasts out at once. Oh I forgot when you summon them to attack a target they apply their damage straight away, giving a very nice burst effect.

I like the way mesmer pets are set up and think Ranger pets could borrow a few of these mechanics for pvp.

completely irrelevant but i dont like it when people call other class’s summons “pets”. they aren’t really pets despite them working better or in whatever way lol, only rangers really have “pets” xD

If I could ask for one change to ranger pet AI it would probably be to relock onto players when they come out of stealth.

I feel the weight of pet AI myself. Some of our traits are garbage but you can spec out of them into something else, but our pet is there no matter what. As it is right now, as useful and smart as my pets seem to be when they are actually attacking and using their skills, half the time I just think it would be fitting to seem them running around with a chat bubble above their head that said “ kitten #8221; every so often.

Their animations are way too long (especially F2 skill animations omfg) and it’s VERY unresponsive sometimes. We are indeed very weighed down by our pets.

Yes, the lack of re-homing onto the target after it comes out of stealth in both PVP and PVE is annoying. As well as the long delay when activating the F2 skill (it should instantly activate.)

What gets me the most is the long delays before attacking. When you tell a bird to attack it will spin around you for 1-2 seconds then start attacking, even then its attack rate is not that fast once it starts. Other pets have the annoyingly slow animations holding up attack too. They should just fly/run to attack the target right away— lose the excess animations that ultimately speed up one’s demise.

There are also some areas around the world map where pets refuse to run across to attack a monster. So you have to run to the monster, then you pet will teleport appear beside you and start attacking it after about 5 seconds (if you’re lucky!)

The F2 takes forever to activate; ever so often you think “now I really want that spell”, but by the time is activated it is irrelevant. Maybe it is just timing, it just seems not very fluid.

And for some reason I have have a target, even have it marked, shoot at it, press F1 … and then it goes attacking the clone. That is the time, when I can’t decide which I dislike the most … the mesmer or my pet.

This is why I put pet attack (F1) on my middle mouse button. Also, this is why you have control skills in the game. A well placed chill or interrupt skill can stop a Thief from being effective in stealth.

My wolves aren’t too bad in my opinion, they attack quite fast, i was pleasantly delighted by their relatively faster lunge normal attack rate, the thing that takes long is their knock down lunge, but by that time im in the middle of combat the enemy mostly is rooted and engaged. my wolves also runs fast so its been doing alright. of course pets should still be fixed up more. after all, we are masters of these animals, they shouldn’t be performing just like any npc mob out there… should be a lot smarter and powerful being with their owner/trainer.

Kasama.8941:

This is why I put pet attack (F1) on my middle mouse button. Also, this is why you have control skills in the game. A well placed chill or interrupt skill can stop a Thief from being effective in stealth.

Nothing to do with where you have placed the spell (mine is ctrl+e) … the pet takes forever to really activate the spell, that is what we are saying … or I am at least