Guild Wars 2

So we are getting closer to the first expansion and the Ranger profession mechanic unrealiable.

I’ve started to present my idea how to rework the pets in an earlier thread, but I wanted to create this thread to get ot the meat of this idea.

So here it is:

- The new mechanic will use F1 – F5 keys
- Pets will usually not deal damage
- Instead, the Ranger is getting back the damage that was cut to justify the pet as damagedealer
- The first Minor in Beastmastery will give the pet damage modifiers (and strip some power away from the Ranger if it is necessary)

• F5 will be the pet swap
  • You can still have two pets to choose from
• F1 will be a ground target, long range movement command
  • When used as ground target, the pet will run to that point and stay there until it is told otherwise or the Ranger is leaving the range.
  • When casted while an ally or an enemy is selected, the pet will follow the selected unit until it is told otherwise or the unit is leaving the range.
  • When casted out of range or with no target and groundtarget selected, the pet will follow the Ranger.
• F2 and F3 wil be race specific
  • Each race will have its own niche. Each race will have induvidual skills and each pet of that race will have access to that skills.
• F4 will differ from pet to pet
  • F4 could keep the functionality of the current F2 skill or get a new mechanic that is more suited for the niche this pet is filling.

Now let’s get to some examples.

- Moas
Moas are very lightweight and have long legs.
One of the two race specific skills could be a significant movement speed boost (way more than 33%) and a charge attack that cripples if an enemy is selected.
The other skill could be a 360° projectile block until the time runs out or the pet is defeated.

- Bears
Bears are very heavy and can hit hard (oh no, dem kittens)
One ability could be the invulnerability bears currently got as one skill the Ranger has no control of.
The other ability could be an AoE knockdown for example.

- Spiders
There are spiders who build their web on the ground to detect movement to spot their prey.
One ability could be mark enemies on the minimap of the Ranger around the spider.
The other ability could stealth the spider or make her untargetable.

- Porcines
Porcines have usually a good nose.
One ability could let them “see” stealthed targets and make them follow the nearest one.
The other one could be a charge, like they have currently as random attack.

- Canines
Canines could have their knockdown charge as one ability and remove stealth in a small AoE around them as another.

- Devourer
Devourers could have one ability that lets them move underground, untargetable and invisible for enemies and a knockdown if a target was selected (the devourer bursting out of the ground when it’s under the target)
Another ability could let them dig a single-use tunnel for the Ranger, which lets the Ranger travel the distance unseen and unharmed. This skill can obviously only be used if both start and end of the tunnel are in line of sight, so it’s more of an preemtive measure than a reactionary tool.

- Drakes
Drakes could get one ability that knocks back enemies if they run into them, which lets you block small passage ways for a short time. If an enemy is using stability, the drake could instead snare him for a short duration.

- Birds and Feline
Those two pets would be focussed primary on damage, so beastmasters would most likely want to use them.

Please keep in mind that the actual skills are only suggestions I just pulled off the top of my head.

I should also mention that this cleaup would make room for some real shouts.
Right now the shouts are not more than just pet commands that got ditched into shouts someway along the creation of the Ranger. With the possiblity to give the pet those mechanics directly, shouts could now actaully made worthwhile.

If we now say that we want to rework the shouts into something useful and therefore scrap the old ones, Search and Rescue could become a pet specific command (F4).
One of the bears for example could get it. The way I imagine it to work would be, that if you use the bear’s F4, it toggles on and the bear searches for the next downed (or dead) player. If the bear can’t find a downed player after 10 seconds, the skill goes on halved cooldown. If he does find someone, he will start to revive this player. Furthermore, the bear could pause the revive to do other things. The toggle (F4) will remain active until the player (is either dead if ANet doesn’t want the skill to work on dead players, or until the player) is revived. That means that if an enemy wants to stomb the downed player, the bear could pause the revive to use his knockdown (F3) or his invulnerability (F2).

I’d like to elaborate the different niches the pets could fill.
Note that my ideas don’t necessarily add up with the examples I’ve given above.
I will name the pet species, the situation it could be used in and what the main ability will be to make them work for that situation.

General – All pets affected

• Can traverse any terrain if following a player, as long as the player doesn’t use any mobility skills
• Marks the player the pet is following in the minimap

Drakes – Zergfights/difficult bosses

• An ability that blocks attacks for several seconds/several attacks
• Knockbacks and walls for area denial

Moa – Hunting down strugglers

• Increased movementspeed (over 133%)
• Soft CC
• No falling damage

Birds – Scouts

• Can traverse walls/ravines
• Can mark enemies on the minimap
• No falling damage

Canine – Hunting enemies

• Can spot stealthed targets
• Can CC targets
• Has limited stealth remove

Porcine – Buffs

• Can buff the Ranger and party members

Bears – CC machines

• Provides hard CC
• Defensive capabilities
• Decreased movementspeed

Spiders – ranged combat

• Deals damage when used as beastmaster

Felines – melee combat

• Deals damage when used as beastmaster

And as always, keep in mind that all those ideas are neither final, nor balanced.