Guild Wars 2

yeah, pets… the topic is brought up again…

There are pro’s and con’s to pets, many would say it is mostly con’s as of now. But how about we do things differently?

As of today, we only have 1 pet out there at any given time, but two pets to choose from… stupid and weird if you ask me.

So, maybe, instead of fiddling with class balance related to pet damage and pet survivability (two factors that can make the ranger overly OP in PVE and sPVP), let us give the ranger pets some more “function”.

We got two pet slots, Slot A and slot B in terrestial, and an equal set for underwater. Instead of using one or the other, we use BOTH. yes, two pets, but the slots are given distinct purposes.

Slot A – Aggressive:
The pet selected into this slot will wander in a large area around you (up to 3000 max range? be happy thiefs, this way it wont follow you to the end of the world). The pet in this slot will have increased offensive power, condition damage and movement speed, but heavily reduced hitpoints and defense. It will attack anything that you attack (get rid of auto aggro).

Example to stat boost/nerf;
Offensive power +75%
Defensive power/Hitpoints -75%
Movement speed +15%

Slot B – Defensive:
The pet selected into this slot will always move around in a radius the size of traited traps (medium). These pets will have increased defense and hitpoints, a stability boon, aswell as “respawning” faster upon death, at the cost of very low offensive power. The pet in this slot will try to suck up as much damage as possible, and knock back enemies by utilizing fear/knockback/sink/float when the enemy get up-close and personal.

Example to stat boost/nerf;
Offensive power -75%
Defensive power +75%
Permanent Stability Boon

Instead of switching from Pet A to Pet B like today, we switch their roles. There will have to be a specific pet AI and skillset change. It is alot of work, however it would let us utilize pets better, without spending an awful lot of time micromanaging them.

This means that shouts such as “Protect Me” can be removed, as the pet in the defensive role will automatically suck up as much damage as possible, in return of a signet with some more… supportive use per say.

When using “Search and Rescue” the pets would BOTH answer the call, but they would be restricted by their role’s area (Defensive slot would heal those dead at your feet, while offensive role would be more flexible). Thus we can protect our selves more efficiently, or heal allies more efficiently then today.

The offensive pet could be traited to reveal the minimap ahead (check out the suggestion in this thread; https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/New-ranger-skill-to-make-us-special-in-WvW/ ) at the expense of movement speed and offensive power.

The defensive pet could in WvW use, be traited into a “beast of burden”, of which you can carry some extra supplies at the expense of making the pet a few percent slower in movement, and loosing the stability boon.

Fellow rangers, do you like this concept? Please give me some feedback, as this is my idea on how to overcome the “micromanagement issue” which i struggle with in WvW.

I think that actually sounds like an amazing idea! I wish I could say more than that since you have obviously put a lot of effort into this post… but wow….that is such a good idea!

Thank you for seeing it this way. I was afraid that this would be met with more scepticism

I like the idea of this plan, but there are a few problems. There are times when you would not want a pet to wander away from you. People already complain about the current leash of pets, forget 3000. Secondly the current pets would have to divided into Atk/def categories.

Also how would melee rangers work with your def pet always knocking back/floating/sinking your target.

My idea would be to make the area for the aggressive pet, cover a maximum of 3000 range radius. I apologize for formulating myself poorly.

And no, the current pets would be given two “role” sets. Much like certain pets, like drakes got extra skillsets and AI for underwater, this would be applied as a special skillset for “role A or role B”.

Again, i apologize for formulating myself poorly.

Edit 2; For the knock-back, i was imagining a longer cool-down/low range (like the kick on GS 4 guard)

Prysin.8542:

My idea would be to make the area for the aggressive pet, cover a maximum of 3000 range radius. I apologize for formulating myself poorly.

And no, the current pets would be given two “role” sets. Much like certain pets, like drakes got extra skillsets and AI for underwater, this would be applied as a special skillset for “role A or role B”.

Again, i apologize for formulating myself poorly.

Edit 2; For the knock-back, i was imagining a longer cool-down/low range (like the kick on GS 4 guard)

Now that you’ve clarified this I’d cry tears of joy if this were to go down!! And tbh I think protect me and Sick’em would both stay in but protect me would affect the defensive pet and then sick’em the offensive one, or hell merge it into one shout! That’s be awesome!!

Now I’m going to be upset when this -doesn’t- happen…. Jerk.

Very good idea. Fully supported. The numbers and exact balancing would obviously need to be sorted out, but just brilliant.

What I like most about this, is it brings something unique to the whole idea of having pets rather than just PC/+add which these classes can sometimes fall into. The GW2 pets are dull, and this would do a lot to liven it up.

Kudos

Durzlla.6295:

Now that you’ve clarified this I’d cry tears of joy if this were to go down!! And tbh I think protect me and Sick’em would both stay in but protect me would affect the defensive pet and then sick’em the offensive one, or hell merge it into one shout! That’s be awesome!!

Now I’m going to be upset when this -doesn’t- happen…. Jerk.

well, let’s hope for the best. Like someone said earlier, exact values must be determined later, and i completely agree.

Prysin.8542:

Durzlla.6295:

Now that you’ve clarified this I’d cry tears of joy if this were to go down!! And tbh I think protect me and Sick’em would both stay in but protect me would affect the defensive pet and then sick’em the offensive one, or hell merge it into one shout! That’s be awesome!!

Now I’m going to be upset when this -doesn’t- happen…. Jerk.

well, let’s hope for the best. Like someone said earlier, exact values must be determined later, and i completely agree.

Oh whenever people make suggestion threads like these i don’t even consider the numbers they say “final” and always just go off of the idea behind it.

This is an amazing idea and I really hope a dev sees this

This is very close to the idea I had in the Dev thread except you would only have one pet out at a time and you would pick it’s ‘mode’. Anyways, would there be a stow option? Because having a pet out at 3000 range would make dungeon running quite difficult by aggroing everything.

By the sounds of this you want us to have two pets out simultaneously. This makes sense really, but I feel we may lose the “A boy and his dog” feel (more accurately, A boy and his giant electric breathing lizard beast). After all, an animal companion is intended as a single highly trained assistant, defining it as separate from the Necromancer’s minions.
If this seems like crazy reasoning to you, allow me to offer this as a rebuttal. By the Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu, an army of ninjas will never win. Ever. Less characters makes the individuals less faceless, I don’t even get why pet names are an option.

Durzlla.6295:

Now that you’ve clarified this I’d cry tears of joy if this were to go down!! And tbh I think protect me and Sick’em would both stay in but protect me would affect the defensive pet and then sick’em the offensive one, or hell merge it into one shout! That’s be awesome!!

Now I’m going to be upset when this -doesn’t- happen…. Jerk.

“Do what you’re doing now just slightly better and maybe glow as you do so! Yeah, like that!”. Shouts either inspire or give orders, the inspiring ones almost always apply in an AoE around you (FOR GREAT JUSTICE). A ranger however, shouts to give their pet commands to act outside their basic instinct and training (Hence why F1 and F4 whistle but also why F2 and F3’s silence feels strange). Sick ’em might seem off (since it technically inspires your pet), but pets are smart, smart enough to follow orders, use cool skills and determine friend from foe, but not enough to discern what level of force to use. Sick ’em is effectively authorization of lethal force.

With your suggestion, I don’t think it really works. Why does only one pet listen to one command, a command telling them to do what they’re doing but better? So, I propose Sick ’em and Protect me follow the other logical conclusion. Both pets will follow each command, so Sick ’em tells your defending pet to kill, while Protect me tells your attacking pet to assist you. : D