Guild Wars 2

Hello! Level 51 Ranger here

I’m pretty new to the forums, so apologies if this idea has been suggested before. I’ve seen a lot of threads on the issues that come up with stowing pets (namely, it’s a pain in the butt when you’re trying to do jumping puzzles + when it aggros a bunch of groups, etc.) and I’ve experienced all of those things, and yes, it is not fun. However, I also see the issue with perma-stowing pets, especially when Anet has said they want to ensure that pets are used in combat.

So here’s my big idea (:P) — just change the trigger on un-stowing the pet. Currently, the trigger is, “player has taken damage”, when IMO it really should be “player has activated a skill”. Switching the trigger to skill activation ensures that the player is actually IN combat, and probably needs their lil’ buddy to help out. This also prevents people from stowing pets forever and not using them.

This doesn’t fix everything by any means, but it might help make jumping puzzles/running around the world a little less painful.

The stowing issue may never change, but I figured I’d toss it out there, as I think it could be a viable solution.

It would make my pet pop out when I’m trying to use a greatsword leap to jump past a mob, or while just goofing around with skills.

The real problem is that fall/JP damage counts as combat, and pets come out when the player “enters combat”. I understand applying the run speed reduction upon taking damage, but having the pet come out when it’s environmental damage that can’t be fought against is silly.

I would settle on having the pet slots have an unequip option just like the weapon and armor slots have. Plus I would like key assignments for the stow pet/activate button.

I keep using guard to send my passive pet away(go stand by the wall,bad doggy).
That’s my solution for not able to perment stow my pet for now.

This isn’t a real solution. The only real solution is perma-stowing. Due to your level you haven’t gotten into content where your pet will literally become a nuissance like the bonus level in FotM where Jade Maw targets your pet a million times, disregarding players and wasting so much time. You can sometimes stow it but then you just sit there holding a crystal and avoiding damage so you are literally of no use to the team until it’s time to pick up another crystal…and the pet gets re-targeted.
This is also an issue in some of the JPs where you’re looking to avoid combat to be able to skip fast through it and your pet keeps aggroing everything around you because you take falling damage when you jump.
These are just off the top of my head but there are so many other situations where I’ve found the pet to be a downer rather than a help because it can’t be perma-stowed.

And this from a guy who only plays Ranger because of the pets.