Guild Wars 2

Any risen I fight on my ranger (using lynx pet, but happens with all) just ignores my pet and runs to me at super speed (faster than any player can move), so it’s impossible to kite them or stop being physically brutalised in melee range.

Pet attacks them in melee range, as soon as I shoot them, they ignore pet and come for me.

Is it a broken mechanic or is there something I am doing wrong?

This is the new pet AI ‘improvement’ to keep your pet alive longer. Your pet no longer draws agro from a monster that’s not agrod on the player (to avoid the pet pulling distant monster). Your pet also now attempts to take a position behind the monster and stay alive longer. This basically means ‘you’ are now the primary target and not your pet.

Was wondering this myself.

and this “improvement” Kaz speaks of is enough to make me drop my hunter completely.

back to warrior…

They were doing this before the patch as well when I would fight them.

Thanks for explaining this kaz.

I’m happy to switch to a melee weapon for melee combat, when it’s required, but I don’t really want to have a GS always equipt in case they go for me, also traits tend to go in the direction of one weapon or another, you can’t be equally good at both ranged AND melee, just like guardians can’t be good at dps and survivability, everything with balance.

So with this in mind.. well, I understand they want to keep pets alive, but how about removing that ridiculous speed buff the risen get where it’s impossible to get out of melee range? if you are using a longbow you might as well give up and just die. Sure if it’s 1 mob you can knock it back a bit, but risen rarely travel alone.

try the same thing with a bear and if you still get aggro, anet probably messed up.
Just fyi, it might simply be that aggro tables got shifted by the stat increase on pets.

I use bear type of pet as my primary pet on large groups and cat (lynx) for single target dps. For most mobs it’s fine really, it’s just the risen which ignore pet regardless and just come straight for you and stick to you in melee range with no way to avoid or get out of it.

Kaz, the change in AI has nothing to do with what he asked. The change just made it so our pet won’t agro things that we don’t agro or attack ourselves, it didn’t make it so enemies ignore our pet once we’re in combat with something. It’s always been that risen tend to ignore pets. I always assumed that arenanet wanted to create more of a challenge in orr and that’s why the agro tables are jacked up there but I really have no idea why they do ignore our pet.

Risen have always done this, this has nothing to do with the patch. I just use my GS more when fighting Risen, and use a higher damage pet like a Jaguar or a Bird. If they want to focus on me, that’s cool but my Pet will just come up behind them and tear them up.

This is the way Risen have always functioned. I assume it’s by design, I think it’s actually kind of cool. I wish more enemies had different mechanics that required a change up in tactics to deal with them.

Risen has always been like this. Always. Even way way back they were like this. I actually like it that you can’t just /automode in Orr. Who wants to play a game where all the enemies behave the same? that sounds boring tbh.

The higher level the enemy, the more it changes its priority for first target. High-end mobs tend to go for ranged or highest DPS before anything else. As a ranger you’ll probably be using a bow, and you’ll do more DPS than your pet, so they go after you.

As far as I know it’s always been thus.

Risen enemies have always prefer player characters (or NPCs… not player-controlled NPCs, I’m talking actual world NPCs) over pets, summons, ect.

Its nothing to do with the patch. Its just always been that way. Its that way with every single character I have that uses pets or familiars. Risen ignore my pet with my Ranger, they ignore my clones with my Memser, they ignore my turrets with my Engineer, ect. Risen AI is just coded to go after players and not pets, I guess.

It really screws up my Mesmer who relies on clone aggro to stay alive (having little to no defense). Not very kind to my Beastmaster Ranger either, though it does mean I can run cats and birds with little worry.

that is a good point Electro, take the higher dps and less amoured pets, at least then you can kill them quicker.

Because risen eat brains, and ranger pets have none

Daemon.4295:

Because risen eat brains, and ranger pets have none

Hahahahah, thats great.

still, if arena net really do want people to play with the style and weapon choice they chose, they have to change this so risen DO attack pets, otherwise you are forced to play melee hunter every time you fight the undead (which is a lot in this game).

rangers can play melee perfectly fine if you spec for this type of combat in your traits, but maybe not everybody wants to be forced into a type of spec just because of a broken or otherwise flawed decision of pet mechanics.

Kaz.5430:

This is the new pet AI ‘improvement’ to keep your pet alive longer. Your pet no longer draws agro from a monster that’s not agrod on the player (to avoid the pet pulling distant monster). Your pet also now attempts to take a position behind the monster and stay alive longer. This basically means ‘you’ are now the primary target and not your pet.

As a ranger risen are incredibly frustrating, I hate this whole switch of aggro thing. screw that

2 Possible Reasons, and it has little to due with Risen.

A. You’re using Signet of the Wild, This is an aggression magnet.

B. You have more toughness then your pet.

Why do zombies prefer humans more than animals?

Terravos.4059:

A. You’re using Signet of the Wild, This is an aggression magnet.

B. You have more toughness then your pet.

I pick Option B (and its actually total armor (toughness and defense from gear combined), not just toughness). Only Devourers and Armor Fish have more toughness than your total armor unless you start investing in Toughness yourself. Because of this, and with very few exceptions, Rangers will always draw aggro from enemies.

(which is Why we all should be making the argument that pets should have more armor instead of more health)

They do attack the pet. If the pet attack first. If you shoot the mob first, the mob aggroes you, then the pet notices you were aggroed and enters combat, moving towards the target. However in most cases it will miss the target until it stops and it stops when it can attack you.

So if you want your pets to take all the damage, you either target the mob and use f1/f2 to send the pet first, or make the mob to lose target (you) so it will switch aggro on your pet.

But if you go like 1, 1, 3, 1 or 1,1, 4, 3, 1 or just 5, 2 on lb, most mobs shall be dead because they touch you. PVE farming on a ranger is really very easy.

Long Bow has stealth so if you want your pet to hold agro: Attack mob Hit hunters shot you go stealth. Your pet should hit the mob before the stealth end. Since your pet has hit the mob and is closer your pet should hold agro.

Lucipher.3014:

As a ranger risen are incredibly frustrating, I hate this whole switch of aggro thing. screw that

Thread necro, but you should try playing as a mesmer. Those risen thralls completely ignore your illusions/phantasms and go straight for your light armor mesmer.

The AI change made it worse, but risen were already programmed to ignore pets to some extent. I tested it extensively on a risen abomination for a bug report. I stood at max range (before the pet range nerf) and sent in the pet. Then I moved behind a rock to lose LOS. The abomination would attack the pet at the start, then when the abomination’s hp reached a certain point (around 75% if I remember), it would switch to ignoring the pet and make a beeline straight for me. I even tried kiting it around for ~10 minutes while the pet continued to attack it, and it never attacked the pet again.

I even managed a couple trials where the pet got it to this state without me having to heal the pet, so it wasn’t some type of heal-aggro. It was a deliberately pre-programmed behavior. I submitted the bug report because it seemed like such unrealistic behavior for the AI. In retrospect I realized they probably deliberately made it that way for whatever reason. Then they made the AI change everyone here begged for (mobs ignore pets unless the pet attacks them), and every mob which isn’t attacked by your pet now behaves this way.

Use a tank pet, drake is best cause you’re mostly fighting multiple mobs in orr I have a high armored build and I virtually never pull aggro off the drake exept for a few occassions when you are bursting alot of damage, it was always like this though like many have already said.

Necromancy increased to level 62 !

Daemon.4295:

Because risen eat brains, and ranger pets have none

Before I opened the post to read the very same thought crossed my mind.

/Thread!

As of late it isn’t just risen. I have found that across many zone (haven’t tested them all yet, but getting there) that mobs will now go after the ranger once he reaches a certain range even if he is not attacking, or using any other skills. I can only guess that this is part of Anet anti-bot design at work, but it does seem like something we should have been told about.