I started a Ranger some days ago, just for fun, and to see what all the fuss is about. Now, the class is horrible in terms of power and utility (I play it in WvW and a bit in PvE). But one thing caught my eye.
Having a pet greatly extends in-combat time, and thus prevents me from healing that occurs one is out of combat. This is not as relevant perhaps in PvE where everyone just plows through, but in WvW you need to be able to flee and regen fast, perhaps change a weapon too. Being in-combat means no instant healing, and worst of all, lower movement speed. Imagine you’re skirmishing and suddenly you see enemy zerg. You start retreating and you outrun all enemies.. and at this point you would start regening and regain your normal combat speed but alas! Your pet is dead somewhere far behind you and prevents you from getting out of combat. Eventually enemy zerg catches you up and kills you. True story.
I’m not sure whether switching to Avoid Combat improves this, but even if it does all this juggling is just annoying. I have two pet modes: one that means “avoid combat” and the other that means “attack everyone on the map”. Even if I don’t attack those targets.
Anyway, I made ranger just for some casual fun. I really can’t imagine anyone having ranger as a main character.
Unemployed people should not receive any social benefits if they are already working in an MMO.