Guild Wars 2

I’d like to hear people’s opinion here. Would you prefer better working pets or Druid? Both things we know nothing about and we have no idea how impactful either would be. And of course we all truly want both. But if you could only choose one which would it be? As the title says, which is more important to you?

Edit: Well I’ll be. Aspects do seem to suggest they’ll be removing the pet or something along those lines. Adding aspects requires replacing at least some of those f commands. But guys think about all those folks who aren’t buying HoT. Are they getting the short end of the stick as far as balance goes? Of course, all of this is speculation at this point.

Druid. Pet functionality goes beyond more control, it’s the fact NPCs can’t attack while moving and I highly doubt that’s ever going to change.

Thz.7569:

Druid. Pet functionality goes beyond more control, it’s the fact NPCs can’t attack while moving and I highly doubt that’s ever going to change.

That can be easily changed by increasing the melee attack range to 250-300 on all pet attacks.

I would really like pets to be better in all aspects, but looks like Druid is getting Aspects, which may mean a loss of the pet anyway, so we shall see.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Thz.7569:

Druid. Pet functionality goes beyond more control, it’s the fact NPCs can’t attack while moving and I highly doubt that’s ever going to change.

That can be easily changed by increasing the melee attack range to 250-300 on all pet attacks.

I would really like pets to be better in all aspects, but looks like Druid is getting Aspects, which may mean a loss of the pet anyway, so we shall see.

Oh? When this this bomb drop? Did I miss an article somewhere?

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

That can be easily changed by increasing the melee attack range to 250-300 on all pet attacks.

Would it though? I mean, it would just be the way it is right now, but at 250-300 range. The constant stalling would still happen.

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Thz.7569:

Druid. Pet functionality goes beyond more control, it’s the fact NPCs can’t attack while moving and I highly doubt that’s ever going to change.

That can be easily changed by increasing the melee attack range to 250-300 on all pet attacks.

I would really like pets to be better in all aspects, but looks like Druid is getting Aspects, which may mean a loss of the pet anyway, so we shall see.

Oh? When this this bomb drop? Did I miss an article somewhere?

Datamined trait. It’s on the forum.

Thz.7569:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

That can be easily changed by increasing the melee attack range to 250-300 on all pet attacks.

Would it though? I mean, it would just be the way it is right now, but at 250-300 range. The constant stalling would still happen.

Take a look at birds with a 300 range melee. Also, see this video to see how a 250 range auto attack affects a pet.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Take a look at birds with a 300 range melee. Also, see this video to see how a 250 range auto attack affects a pet.

I run double birds in pvp and it’s still horrible. I suppose I see what you mean in that it can help, but it’s far from a fix.

I guess I’m a pessimist when it comes to AI and would like a petless class mechanic at this point. I mean, you know not much thought goes into these things when we still have horrible ranges on some of our pet reliant abilities like SoR. That has nothing to do with the topic at hand, just another gripe I have with it all.

/shrug Will likely love Druid regardless :P

Thz.7569:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Take a look at birds with a 300 range melee. Also, see this video to see how a 250 range auto attack affects a pet.

I run double birds in pvp and it’s still horrible. I suppose I see what you mean in that it can help, but it’s far from a fix.

I guess I’m a pessimist when it comes to AI and would like a petless class mechanic at this point. I mean, you know not much thought goes into these things when we still have horrible ranges on some of our pet reliant abilities like SoR.

/shrug Will likely love Druid regardless :P

Well, as well as the melee range increase, they also need a base speed increase, so they can run faster than players when both have no speed boosts. 20% should be fine, like GW1. Then they would be able to hit reasonably consistently.

It is a slippery slope, they can make the pets hit constantly, but if you cannot avoid the pet by moving around and dodging etc, it is OP. At what point should a decent player be able to avoid the pet? Since it is AI, it cannot be fair to have it deal consistent unavoidable damage against other players.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Thz.7569:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Take a look at birds with a 300 range melee. Also, see this video to see how a 250 range auto attack affects a pet.

I run double birds in pvp and it’s still horrible. I suppose I see what you mean in that it can help, but it’s far from a fix.

I guess I’m a pessimist when it comes to AI and would like a petless class mechanic at this point. I mean, you know not much thought goes into these things when we still have horrible ranges on some of our pet reliant abilities like SoR.

/shrug Will likely love Druid regardless :P

Well, as well as the melee range increase, they also need a base speed increase, so they can run faster than players when both have no speed boosts. 20% should be fine, like GW1. Then they would be able to hit reasonably consistently.

It is a slippery slope, they can make the pets hit constantly, but if you cannot avoid the pet by moving around and dodging etc, it is OP. At what point should a decent player be able to avoid the pet? Since it is AI, it cannot be fair to have it deal consistent unavoidable damage against other players.

Well the simple fix to a perfectly tracking pet system is that either the pet no longer lacks a cooldown on their basic attack, OR, they only attack when you are actively attacking.

One way buries the functionality of certain pet skills that we desperately want to see in combat behind a new cooldown wall and potentially messes with the AI we are used to, and the other removes a lot of depth from the mechanic of how AI/Pets function.

Really, the only “fix” to pets is an overhaul, so I hope the Druid brings that as well as you do haha.

jcbroe.4329:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Thz.7569:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Take a look at birds with a 300 range melee. Also, see this video to see how a 250 range auto attack affects a pet.

I run double birds in pvp and it’s still horrible. I suppose I see what you mean in that it can help, but it’s far from a fix.

I guess I’m a pessimist when it comes to AI and would like a petless class mechanic at this point. I mean, you know not much thought goes into these things when we still have horrible ranges on some of our pet reliant abilities like SoR.

/shrug Will likely love Druid regardless :P

Well, as well as the melee range increase, they also need a base speed increase, so they can run faster than players when both have no speed boosts. 20% should be fine, like GW1. Then they would be able to hit reasonably consistently.

It is a slippery slope, they can make the pets hit constantly, but if you cannot avoid the pet by moving around and dodging etc, it is OP. At what point should a decent player be able to avoid the pet? Since it is AI, it cannot be fair to have it deal consistent unavoidable damage against other players.

Well the simple fix to a perfectly tracking pet system is that either the pet no longer lacks a cooldown on their basic attack, OR, they only attack when you are actively attacking.

One way buries the functionality of certain pet skills that we desperately want to see in combat behind a new cooldown wall and potentially messes with the AI we are used to, and the other removes a lot of depth from the mechanic of how AI/Pets function.

Really, the only “fix” to pets is an overhaul, so I hope the Druid brings that as well as you do haha.

Yeah, they really do need their own specific AI code and not be tied to mob AI, they could really implement anything they liked then, to make pets powerful allies and also balanced without breaking mob AI at the same time. But in the meantime (if it ever happens) I’ll be satisfied with a melee range increase and +20% base run speed

Druid will probl stray from traditional ranger gameplay (longbow) due to potential support role, so a subjective opinion would be better working pets to strengthen the pewpew lb/gs or lb/s&d ranger.

nacario.9417:

Druid will probl stray from traditional ranger gameplay (longbow) due to potential support role, so a subjective opinion would be better working pets to strengthen the pewpew lb/gs or lb/s&d ranger.

That will be the beauty of Druid. LB/Staff with WS/BM/Druid so you have good spike single target ranged damage and aoe damage/support. If the druid is well done, we may even get a PvP meta slot with it. LB with WS/NM/BM is already quite good, if druid adds decent AoE and support, well, that is what we have been praying for. Can easily drop NM for the Druid traitline.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Thz.7569:

Druid. Pet functionality goes beyond more control, it’s the fact NPCs can’t attack while moving and I highly doubt that’s ever going to change.

That can be easily changed by increasing the melee attack range to 250-300 on all pet attacks.

I would really like pets to be better in all aspects, but looks like Druid is getting Aspects, which may mean a loss of the pet anyway, so we shall see.

Oh? When this this bomb drop? Did I miss an article somewhere?

Datamined trait. It’s on the forum.

Was running a 50 fractal with a Ranger yesterday and he pointed me towards the Reddit thread…

A FRACTION (1/320) OF HOPE HAS BEEN RESTORED!

Mavander.3208:

I’d like to hear people’s opinion here. Would you prefer better working pets or Druid? Both things we know nothing about and we have no idea how impactful either would be. And of course we all truly want both. But if you could only choose one which would it be? As the title says, which is more important to you?

Edit: Well I’ll be. Aspects do seem to suggest they’ll be removing the pet or something along those lines. Adding aspects requires replacing at least some of those f commands. But guys think about all those folks who aren’t buying HoT. Are they getting the short end of the stick as far as balance goes? Of course, all of this is speculation at this point.

Better working pets all the way.

I would without a doubt want a pet overhaul first. Good AI, running animations and all manners of QoL improvements. For example, I simply don’t understand why names are reset when you replace your active pets. Having to actually retype their names every time you change your stable is such a pain and works against them feeling like valued companions rather than temporary pieces of gear.

People should be impressed by the pet system whenever they try a ranger. It should feel great and play great.