Guild Wars 2

Edit: title changed; original title was “buff/debuff bar for pets” but later expanded into more quality of life questions

Hi, I’m Chopps, a great believer in the ranger class. A lot of people on this forum think I just love everything about ranger and that’s not true. I’d like to share with you one of my biggest pet peeves.

Necromancers love fighting rangers. They get to epidemic a pet, abusing the fact that we can’t see what conditions are on the pet to stack conditions with little risk of them being cleared and then spreading them around.

This takes advantage of the fact that pets have no buff/debuff bar that the ranger can see without actively selecting the pet while in combat. Also, there should be an indicator that the pet is stunned so people stop thinking the utility skill is broken—it’s not, the pet just keeps getting interrupted. A good enemy will not just let your wolf howl when they see the activation animation.

So, in short, a secondary buff/debuff bar dedicated to the pet is sorely needed.

Can we use this as a ‘quality of life’ thread for the ranger? Because I’ve got another little quibble I want to bring up yet again..

Attack and Recall should be on the same button. The premise is you send your pet to attack and the game will run through a simple if routine. If the pet is already targetting the target you told it to attack, it will return. If you tell it to attack a target it isn’t already on, it will switch to that target and attack. I’ll even go one better and provide the code if needed since I made the zHunter mod in WoW to do the same thing.

But it really does make controlling the pet much easier, makes it more responsive, and it will free up a hotkey slot so we can maybe get more added functionality in the future.

I prefer having 2 desperate buttons, but that’s just me…

As for the debuffs… Oh sweet ducking Jesus yes!! I have my pet dying because I don’t realize he has like 25 confusion and bleeding (obvious exaggeration is obvious) so I think “he just needs a heal!” And then proceeds to die horribly anyway. Not to mention in PvP I am one of those necromancers (when I play one), but easily my least favorite thing is missing my wolfs fear or spiders immob etc because he’s blind and I can’t tell in the heated fray.

Chopps I absolutely agree. The biggest problems with our pets is we have no idea what is killing them off. Sadly, being a micromanaging profession, we are not given the tools to keep tabs on our pets debuffs.

Also, if this a quality of life thread, we should also have visible timers of our pets AI abilities. I am for introducing a F3 function for our pets secondary abilities but if that doesn’t happen, I think having timers of the pet’s AI abilities would help as well.

Atherakhia.4086:

Can we use this as a ‘quality of life’ thread for the ranger? Because I’ve got another little quibble I want to bring up yet again..

Attack and Recall should be on the same button. The premise is you send your pet to attack and the game will run through a simple if routine. If the pet is already targetting the target you told it to attack, it will return. If you tell it to attack a target it isn’t already on, it will switch to that target and attack. I’ll even go one better and provide the code if needed since I made the zHunter mod in WoW to do the same thing.

But it really does make controlling the pet much easier, makes it more responsive, and it will free up a hotkey slot so we can maybe get more added functionality in the future.

Allow me to kiss your feet, I used to love that addon <3

I’ve been asking for a better pet UI (numerical hp bar with debuffs/buffs shown) months and months ago. Robert Hrouda took note of my suggestion along with many other player ideas and said that he will take those ideas to the other devs in charge of class balancing. Haven’t seen any changes yet~

• More concise pathing for pets.
• Pet status bar with more information.
• More freedom of movement on the sword.

Those would be my top three. I wouldn’t mind a decent gap closer on the sword either, but that may be asking too much.

The simplest solution would be if they just added your pet to your party list. You get to see all their buffs and debuffs. Plus your pet’s name is always in blue font signifying that it is in fact a party member.

Quarktastic.1027:

• More concise pathing for pets.
• Pet status bar with more information.
• More freedom of movement on the sword.

Those would be my top three. I wouldn’t mind a decent gap closer on the sword either, but that may be asking too much.

Just flip the order of the hornet sting/monarch skill. Suddenly we have a gap closer to open with and a dodge back if we need it.

Substance E.4852:

Quarktastic.1027:

• More concise pathing for pets.
• Pet status bar with more information.
• More freedom of movement on the sword.

Those would be my top three. I wouldn’t mind a decent gap closer on the sword either, but that may be asking too much.

Just flip the order of the hornet sting/monarch skill. Suddenly we have a gap closer to open with and a dodge back if we need it.

They talked about why the sword works the way it does via the leap evade so I doubt they’ll change that. Besides, I love sword the way it is. Why don’t you guys ask for a new main hand weapon instead of trying to change what some people like?

I have a might stacking build for my pet and I would love a buff/debuff bar so I can keep track of the might on my pet. Also, to watch in sadness when my master’s bond drops off when I enter 5’ of water on accident…

Substance E.4852:

Quarktastic.1027:

• More concise pathing for pets.
• Pet status bar with more information.
• More freedom of movement on the sword.

Those would be my top three. I wouldn’t mind a decent gap closer on the sword either, but that may be asking too much.

Just flip the order of the hornet sting/monarch skill. Suddenly we have a gap closer to open with and a dodge back if we need it.

Ugh no, that would ruin the swords escapability, not to mention make it not synergize as well with our ranged weapons…

Chopps.5047:

Substance E.4852:

Quarktastic.1027:

• More concise pathing for pets.
• Pet status bar with more information.
• More freedom of movement on the sword.

Those would be my top three. I wouldn’t mind a decent gap closer on the sword either, but that may be asking too much.

Just flip the order of the hornet sting/monarch skill. Suddenly we have a gap closer to open with and a dodge back if we need it.

They talked about why the sword works the way it does via the leap evade so I doubt they’ll change that. Besides, I love sword the way it is. Why don’t you guys ask for a new main hand weapon instead of trying to change what some people like?

Because I like the sword. But I don’t like having my freedom of movement taken from me every time I use it.

Besides, if we did get another main hand melee weapon, would it even be on par with the sword’s DPS?

1.
The axe pull now always pull the target right to you instead only pull half way.
It seems that our pets somehow block the pull midway.
2.
Pet name change.
3.
Torch 5, axe 5 and maybe GS2,3 should hit 5 target.
4.
Better aim for throwing dagger, torch and all other projectiles.
5.
Can interact(ex:res,stomp etc) while under effect of signet of wild.
And yes for better UI for pet.

Quarktastic.1027:

Chopps.5047:

Substance E.4852:

Quarktastic.1027:

• More concise pathing for pets.
• Pet status bar with more information.
• More freedom of movement on the sword.

Those would be my top three. I wouldn’t mind a decent gap closer on the sword either, but that may be asking too much.

Just flip the order of the hornet sting/monarch skill. Suddenly we have a gap closer to open with and a dodge back if we need it.

They talked about why the sword works the way it does via the leap evade so I doubt they’ll change that. Besides, I love sword the way it is. Why don’t you guys ask for a new main hand weapon instead of trying to change what some people like?

Because I like the sword. But I don’t like having my freedom of movement taken from me every time I use it.

Besides, if we did get another main hand melee weapon, would it even be on par with the sword’s DPS?

I liked the idea of remove the 2 and 3 skill chains off the 1 handed sword, and putting them onto serpent strike, except have kick be reverted to its Knock Back it was in BWE1, and make pounce put 5-10 might on instead (since you can’t spam it)

further customization of pets, think Dragon Age and Mabari Warhound. Give them collars that further boost them. Maybe not directly statwise, but perhaps % bonuses to attack ,defense, vitality or even skill cooldown.

I would also love to see more diversity in underwater pet options, as well as land based pets. Snakes, half-breeds (minotaurs, harpies), semi-elemental (rock dogs), mythical (phoenixes, spirits, ghosts)

Orion wrote this in a recent thread

“I don’t like being forced to click. Ranger needs a keybind to switch pet guard/passive and stow pet. Alternatively, an even better solution may be F1 attack changing the pet to Guard and F3 return changing the pet to passive in addition to their current functions. That would make gameplay very smooth and it doesn’t seem like it would require much dev time. Once a ranger has made a decision to send a pet in rather than avoiding combat because of risk of losing it, it’s lost damage and needless hassle once the target is dead to order it to attack again. F1 should however retain the target lock effect, where the pet will chase that target even if you switch.”

the pet system is our main problem. guardians, necros, mesmers have pets in utility slots. they use them if they need and change if not. only mesmers forced to use pets but they shatter them. rangers must keep pets alive. in big combats they melt within a second and sometimes we sacrafice our heal to save pet and in the next second we die without heal

and the sword root. it makes it op in pvp and useless in anywhere else

Hmm ya the pet being reworked and the sword “root” has been noted and discussed in this thread. Please refrain from repeating because this is meant to be sort of an omnibus of quality of life improvements rather than a focused thread. There are many threads covering those complaints in detail. Thank you for your understanding.

I would really like to see “Search and Rescue” and “Guard” (without stealth) have a permanent spot on the pet skill bar. I really think this would make pets much more valuable, and result in Rangers being more mindful of their pets. “Search and Rescue” would give a use to pets outside of combat, if you’re just using a moa to buff, for instance. And “Guard” would give more survivability to the pet, and more control. All without having to waste any utility slots.

Then add some shout skills that actually gives some benefits to allies, like the Guardian and Warrior has. We all know the Ranger could use some more support options.

1. Remove range max damage requirement from Longbow, at least in spvp/tpvp. Really kittens up damage when you can’t keep on long range
2. Change Barrage to more flexible skill, more like Barrage from GW1. Right now the animation seems cool, etc. but it triggers all retaliation damage you might get and once casted, you can’t stop it. Also, it’s not very efficient in pvpcombat because of that casting time.
My suggestion is to keep it ground-targeted skill, but remove cast and now it’d fire couple arrows, moving slower the bigger range is, covering smaller radius, doing decent AoE damage and crippling everyone inside for, let’s say, 4 seconds. Cd should be reduced to basic 12 seconds, but If you hit more than 1 target, basic cd should be reduced to 9 seconds. Here, fixed.
3. Way more control over pets. As suggested above + bindable pet skills such as spider’s immobilize, wolf’s knockdown etc.
4. Fixing useless pet abilities! Seriously, which genius thought that having a pet which special ability is to bring you stick will be valid? I want more utile special abilities, not really ones causing minor bleed, which miss everytime.
5. Condition removal – need a little bit more

Rym.1469:

5. Condition removal – need a little bit more

Our signet that ticks away conditions and can pull all nearby conditions to the pet is nice, or with healing spring you can have spammable condition removal if you can stay in the same area with 50% uptime. These are already pretty strong, but if I’m not mistaken the signet’s active function will not pull conditions off of you unless you are standing near your pet. That’s a problem.

A ranger is supposed to be able to shoot his or her targets from long distance, meaning the pet may be nowhere near the ranger. This leaves a ranger that traits for the namesake of the class to face a distinct problem with condition removal. Not only are they separated from the pet, but also one can’t stand in a healing spring when a warrior gives chase and moving away is a necessity.

Compare our signet to Guardian’s Contemplation of Purity skill. Both have a 60 second cooldown, and the active effects are very similar. They’re intended to clean all conditions off of you. The ranger signet also cleans them off other allies, assuming you are near your pet as well—that’s good. It does not, however, do anything beneficial with the conditions. Contemplation of Purity turns them all into boons. Our signet just kills our pet, if we don’t have a swap cooldown available to burn along with the signet.

The bottom line is that the guardian does not have to wonder if a pet is nearby. If guardian is covered in conditions, a quick button press solves the problem. The solution seems simple: make the ranger signet work for the ranger at any range, not just near the pet.

Allow pets to do their attack animations while moving.

do something with axe. too little damage. you need to keep your enemy out of melee rang but in 900 and close to each other…

1. Increase the attack speed rate of GS #1 to make up for it’s lack of raw damage. I desperately want the GS to have the potential for primary use.

2.) Fix the River Drake pet’s skin. The current skin it uses is the Rock Drake from the Charr lands. Switch it to the actual River Drake skin found in Queensdale.

3.) Continue to improve pet AI in any way.

4.) Addition of a new ranged pet designed for higher damage/aoe (something with a chain-auto-attack maybe)

5.) Addition of a new ranged pet designed for back-line buffing/healing (just add a moa that vomits arrows at a 900 range or something)

Beardmonger.4692:

5.) Addition of a new ranged pet designed for back-line buffing/healing (just add a moa that vomits arrows at a 900 range or something)

Perhaps a plant type pet similar to an oakheart. Its F2 skill could spawn seed turrets…or something.

Here are my things, in no particular order:

-Pet Status bar is a must. When that pet wonders into a crowd, you need a status bar to see what’s happening.

-Do something to the survival and shout skills. Alter them, change them, something. Most classes can run their “family” skills in a singular build with traits dedicated to making it do things better or more interesting. However, rangers lack severely when building for all shouts or all survival skills, because they are either extremely basic in function to the point where it’s hard to justify making a build out of nothing but them, and/or they don’t mesh with each others functions.

-Being able to do something with my pet besides it just being an additional source of DPS. Maybe I want my pet to rip a boon off of something, maybe I want my pet to help me get into melee range, like an adaptation of http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Strike_as_One so that you can switch position with your pet (if your pet is in melee range, you can swap places with it, or set your pet on guard away from a fight, then teleport to it in a jam).

-Entangle hits stealthed foes

-Better condition removal, especially trait wise. Rangers, even lore wise, are survival experts. There is even a traitline dedicated to survival. There are nature spirits that can be summoned and unguents being used and everything. So there is no logical reason why rangers are so incapable of handling conditions that the best way they can do it is to look at the pet and go “here buddy, sorry.”

• Pets can not be OHKOed by bosses in PvE.

• Storm spirit removed from the game.

• Recode all shouts.

• Longbow and GS basic attacks improved.

• Take another look at pet F2 casting times. 3 seconds cast for a r240 5x 10s Might?

• Signet of Renewal always removes the first condition applied to you and then triggers the 10s cooldown.

• Sharpening Stone cooldown reduced to 30s.

• RaO now removes all conditions from you and your pet and is stun breaker.

• Pet-dependant skills now have the same range check as the leash range.