Guild Wars 2

So I did a lot of forum reading and here’s my short and sweet list of things people want done with the pets. Feel free to add yours if you have another.

-Fluid/faster attacks
-More intelligent AI
-Better movement
-Control over all abilities
-“Stay” Command
-Pets remain stowed unless taken back out
-Stand closer to the ranger instead of 10 feet ahead of them =/
-Better pathing while following the ranger
-More in-depth pet customization
-The concept of “rare” or “unique” pets
-F2 abilities activate more fluidly and quickly
-Want to feel a connection with the pet

I think that covers them. Add a change you want if i missed any. Try to be short and sweet! It’s not a debate, it’s just a list.

I read the topic and expected this to be a comparison/debate between pets in WoW and pets in GW2…

…instead it’s a list of things wanted with GW2 pets with no mention of WoW or what WoW has to do with them.

I believe the OP is stating that WOW pets have those things, and gw2 is lacking these things?

You don’t have a stay command in GW2 but you have a skill to make your pet defend an area tho.

The only thing i really want applied to GW2 is the AI, other than that i don’t really miss anything from it. Pet stow is a big no for me, ranger in GW2 has the unique feature of using pets, just like other classes have their own. If you make stow permanent then those classes should also ask for a similar buff to not use their “unique” feature.

My idea on pets.

- Take less damage from AoE
- Faster cast time on the F2
- Better AI/Path finding

That’s about it, one biggest problems with pets atm is is AoE in WvW/SPvP pets die stupidly fast, and its really painful losing half our damage in team fights thanks to AoE damage, its not like we have control over the movement of our pets and its real pain when our pet runs into E.g. traps.

Well, overall I see some things that WoW did better and some things that GW did better.

What WoW did better:
– You had to work a lot harder to get the right pet.
– Rare pets available for collectors.
– You couldn’t swap them all the time on a whim, so there was more attachment to the pet.
– More diversity in pets (which makes sense, considering the age of the game).

What GW2 did better:
– Better balance of pets.
– More diverse roles for pets.
– Ranged pets.

I don’t care for WoW but it’s night and day between GW2 and WoW pets. You can do so much with your pets in WoW and they have so many cool and useful abilities. They’re awesome and honestly, it’s the only thing I miss from World of Warcraft.

My idea to improve GW2 pets

• Raise the base HP and armor of all pets.
• Pets take significantly reduced damage from AOE attacks.
• Pets can attack while moving.
• Give Rangers full access to all of their pets abilities so they can be controlled on command, rather than whenever the pet feels like it.
• Make the pet’s F2 skills instant.
• Give Ranger’s the option to stow their pets in combat.

Dahkeus.8243:

Well, overall I see some things that WoW did better and some things that GW did better.

What WoW did better:
– You had to work a lot harder to get the right pet.
– Rare pets available for collectors.
– You couldn’t swap them all the time on a whim, so there was more attachment to the pet.
– More diversity in pets (which makes sense, considering the age of the game).

What GW2 did better:
– Better balance of pets.
– More diverse roles for pets.
– Ranged pets.

WoW has ranged pets.

Pretty nice discussion so far. I’m curious as to how Anet will approach the mechanics of the pet going forward. I mean, it’s a given that they are going to continue to improve the AI and attack mechanics, but i’d like to know what other things they are going to add or improve

Sleepy.2647:

You don’t have a stay command in GW2 but you have a skill to make your pet defend an area tho.

The only thing i really want applied to GW2 is the AI, other than that i don’t really miss anything from it. Pet stow is a big no for me, ranger in GW2 has the unique feature of using pets, just like other classes have their own. If you make stow permanent then those classes should also ask for a similar buff to not use their “unique” feature.

Execpt Guard isn’t a good excuse because your pet will instantly come to help you instead of “staying”. Aren’t minions a unique feature to necromancer? They don’t lose DPS if they choose not to use minions.

OP’s list should have been on the blackboard for the Anet design team when the Ranger was in production.

WoW pets could knock rogues out of stealth if you got them on the rogue before he stealthed. He could vanish again to lose them but you at least had the ability to maybe get him.

Panther Chameleon.8465:

Aren’t minions a unique feature to necromancer? They don’t lose DPS if they choose not to use minions.

Nope – Necromancers have Death Shroud as unique feature.

Pets need to take dramatically less damage from AE’s in both PvE and PvP. In WOW they accomplished this by making pets take like 80% less damage from AE’s and forcing them to move to the side/back outside of the cleave arc. Both these mechanics should be adopted in GW2.

Another thing about the Hunter in WoW was the pet was effectively a DOT. The buffs that the Pet’s gave were more passive in nature and handled through talents. The pet also accounted for a far less substantial amount of the Ranger’s overall damage. about 10%. This most certainly should be adopted in GW2 as the pet amounting for 50% is just absurd. 20% or less is reasonable.

WoW also had pet abilities that were instantly cast. Not all of these necesarilly finished their animations instantly and allowed the pet to move, but when you hit the ability button for the pet, it instantly went off. This allowed the pets to actually function more fluidly with the Hunter. This is also something this game desperately needs as pushing F2 and waiting 1.5 seconds for Howl to go off is completely stupid. I’m fine with the pet staying rooted for the full duration, but the affect should go off instantly.

Another thing WoW provided with their pet system was sprinting when recalled back to their owner. This way the pet stood a realistic chance of getting out of AE’s and moving away from danger. This combined with the pet actually stopping everthing it’s doing and running directly back to the hunter in a straight line added great functionality to the pet. This should also be brought over to this game.

And this is coming from a top-tier raiding and PvP hunter who played WoW through the Frozen Throne in a top 10% raiding guild.

In all the MMO’s I’ve played, WoW probably handled the pet class Hunter the best. While GW isn’t the worst I’ve seen, the fact that they even released the class in the state it’s in when you can look at a real working pet class in another game to see what does and doesn’t work is entirely unforgivable. At least in other MMO’s they were working in the dark.

Dhev.1027:

Nope – Necromancers have Death Shroud as unique feature.

“Necromancers… summon the dead to fight for them.”-GW2

Straight from the gw2 webpage, even though not all necromancers summon the dead because they have the option not to. Perhaps he meant unique ‘gameplay mechanic’ because comparing Death Shroud to our “avoid combat” “guard” “attack” “f2” mechanics is laughable. Especially, since DS is instant and grants the user complete control. Rangers don’t have complete control over pets and I believe that is perhaps the greatest flaw.

There are times when I reflect on the past and realize that I miss my Loque’nahak…

I want to be able to tell my pet to go to an ally so I can use F2 and have it affect them rather than having to chase them down myself because my pet can either be on the frontline or right next to me and that’s it.

Better pathing and AI for sure. And pet’s stay next to you not 10 feet away, altough this depends on pet also some stay near you other’s do not.