Guild Wars 2

I mained ranger in GW1 and enjoyed it, especially without pet (nice to have all the focus is to snip down the $#@$ out of foes, especially the squishy looking ones. and we all know how pet’s AI goes). GW2 should have give option to put pet away while giving ranger some sort of buff to compensate for a petless play style. Why? well, why not ?.
I know someone will start " oh shut it, they stated from the beginning that pet will be the ranger’s mechanic". Well, firstly, that is bad idea to begin with, forcing people to having a pet following around and worrying about the AI. And two, why can’t it be optional. Guardian’s virtue activation is their class mechanic, but they have the option not to activate it. Sure some would call them selfish freak or bad guard, but hey, at least they have the option. Mesmer’s shatter is their class mechanic, but they can run other builds that doesn’t involve shatter. Warrior can do built that optimizes based on NOT using adrenaline. Want more? I can do it all day. So please, option to tow it a away and compensate me with …maybe 25% speed boost or something.

in wich case they would also have to improve pet by default for those that want to stick to it

Devs posted already that perma-stow options won’t happen, rangers are supposed to be the pet class in GW2 (Not that I agree 100%, but that is what was said by a dev).

Search for the Ranger CDI in the profession balance sub-forum, the post is there.

petless option – no thanks

Dun like pets? reroll

“no thanks” -? it’s an option, hate it? have your pet out. Love pets? good for you, but other people don’t have to. Is there a problem?

Reroll. The Ranger is the pet class of GW2.

no pet = lower dps ??

Petless options ?

Wut… that animal following you around getting in the way of your LB pew pew ?

Poor Rangers.

I can see the point here. Ranger pets have a a magical ability to draw all foe and upset specific builds..whoever, this can be micro managed with how you control your pet. I can see why some players may want to opt out of having a pet, but this also makes 50% of traits useless now and 40% of your utilities have no purpose.

i would love to see petless option either, like unequipped pets or smth

when soloing dungeons, like lupi, cause pet stays too far he uses some of his kind of annoying skills (like the sphere) he doesnt use it if u r right under him tho

no need for addition power or dmg boost or smth, we gain nothing out of not having a pet, the option would be pretty welcome anyway

Eh? Pet-less option? No way! That would totally ruin the class. The pets have great synergy with the weapon skills and utilities a ranger has.

If you feel this way, you really should trait something like 0-0-4-4-6 and turn pet auto attack off for a while—to force yourself to use and control the pet. Try it with all of them. Then go back to playing how you like. Trust me, you’ll enjoy the class much more. After a while you’ll be ordering your pet all over the place—and attacking—without a second thought. It’s really quite fun.

If you really hate the pet, the warrior class has a very similar feel and you don’t need the pet. Win win. Roll a warrior.

Archon.6480:

Eh? Pet-less option? No way! That would totally ruin the class. The pets have great synergy with the weapon skills and utilities a ranger has.

If you feel this way, you really should trait something like 0-0-4-4-6 and turn pet auto attack off for a while—to force yourself to use and control the pet. Try it with all of them. Then go back to playing how you like. Trust me, you’ll enjoy the class much more. After a while you’ll be ordering your pet all over the place—and attacking—without a second thought. It’s really quite fun.

If you really hate the pet, the warrior class has a very similar feel and you don’t need the pet. Win win. Roll a warrior.

ofc i love the pet and the synergy w em, i am pretty sure i am using the pets pretty well.

ik how useful they are.

there are just those situations where u totally dont wanna have a pet in combat. especially when u r trying to solo dungeons etc. ofc its still possible to solo, but its just annoying and u r better off without a pet in some situations..

no i wont reroll another proffession, i like the ranger, and even if we dont get the option, ranger is still awesome

and about rerolling to another proffession again, a lot of us are playing several proffession including me (mesmer, ele, necro, engi , ranger mostly currently (proffessions i am playing alone ranger))

Not a huge fan on pet’s in their current state, honestly.. But yeah, it’s our class mechanic so being able to just “turn it off” is not an option I would support.

I’m fine with an in combat stow option for the sake of escaping combat or jumping puzzles, or just exploring. However I do not think fighting without a pet should be optimal. In other words you shouldn’t get a buff to compensate you for not using the class mechanic to it’s full potential.

You did have a choice in whether or not to have a pet. That choice came when you were choosing your profession and picked the only one that has a permanent pet as a core mechanic.

quaniesan.8497:

Guardian’s virtue activation is their class mechanic, but they have the option not to activate it. … Mesmer’s shatter is their class mechanic, but they can run other builds that doesn’t involve shatter. Warrior can do built that optimizes based on NOT using adrenaline. Want more? I can do it all day. So please, option to tow it a away and compensate me with …maybe 25% speed boost or something.

Guardian’s VIRTUES are the class mechanic, not their ACTIVATION.
Mesmer’s mechanic is CLONES and PHANTASMS, with the ability to DESTROY them.
Warrior’s mechanic is ADRENALINE which can be used for burst skills.

Guardians CANNOT play without virtues. IE no matter how they build, or set up, they will get small heals, bit of burns, and periodic aegis.

Mesmers CAN play without clones/phantasms but thats just by avoiding using those skills. Which is gimping the class.

Warriors CANNOT play without adrenaline. They will always build it up to max, even if they do not use it.

So, no. You cannot play without a pet, and never will be able to. If you don’t want the pet to attack, you can tell it not to. In fact, pets are one of the most versatile class mechanic as you can bring one to supplement a lot of what your party needs, without infringing on your weapon/utility selection.

Now, if you were to suggest a redesign of the pets functions, I would certainly be more then happy to discuss along these lines, however removing will not ever happen, and makes no sense.

Raina.8642:

quaniesan.8497:

Guardian’s virtue activation is their class mechanic, but they have the option not to activate it. … Mesmer’s shatter is their class mechanic, but they can run other builds that doesn’t involve shatter. Warrior can do built that optimizes based on NOT using adrenaline. Want more? I can do it all day. So please, option to tow it a away and compensate me with …maybe 25% speed boost or something.

Guardian’s VIRTUES are the class mechanic, not their ACTIVATION.
Mesmer’s mechanic is CLONES and PHANTASMS, with the ability to DESTROY them.
Warrior’s mechanic is ADRENALINE which can be used for burst skills.

Guardians CANNOT play without virtues. IE no matter how they build, or set up, they will get small heals, bit of burns, and periodic aegis.

Mesmers CAN play without clones/phantasms but thats just by avoiding using those skills. Which is gimping the class.

Warriors CANNOT play without adrenaline. They will always build it up to max, even if they do not use it.

So, no. You cannot play without a pet, and never will be able to. If you don’t want the pet to attack, you can tell it not to. In fact, pets are one of the most versatile class mechanic as you can bring one to supplement a lot of what your party needs, without infringing on your weapon/utility selection.

Now, if you were to suggest a redesign of the pets functions, I would certainly be more then happy to discuss along these lines, however removing will not ever happen, and makes no sense.

makes more sense even tho its kinda lame, u r right

Ranger CDI

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Collaborative-Development-Ranger-Profession/first#post3682544

If you’ve seen my posts on ele’s sticking to a single element and engineers and their kits

The rangers are on my hit list for an in depth look into traits and skills and the potential of how the ‘spirit of animal x’ will work both passive and actively

-Phyrak

Am I the only person who likes my pets? I don’t think I’d enjoy Ranger as much without them to be honest.

This would be great. We want just an option. In fact if u can reconfigure that “stow pet” option it is enough i think. If we stow it it shouldnt come out again when we just cause damage or get hurt. Just do this pls. No one need to complain about this right? Just an option we want.

i am against the petless option. I choosed the Ranger coz of this pet.
But in last time i run with my guild few dungeons and sometimes can understand why a lot of ranger want a petless option.
The current problem is that when we stow our pet and get infight the pet comes out.
No big problem, but it is a problem when we use AoE Stealth, i take Fall dmg and the pet pulls a lot of mobs.
So i think a BIG QoL change would be when the pet doesnt come out when we get Fall dmg. That would cause that Dungeon ranger have an easier time.
Thats my opinion

Pets need a lot of work, it’s insane that you had more control if pets in gw1 than you do now. Just bringing back the flag system would be a huge benefit. The other thing is you shouldn’t be locked in combat if your pretty takes a hit.

quaniesan.8497:

I mained ranger in GW1 and enjoyed it, especially without pet (nice to have all the focus is to snip down the $#@$ out of foes, especially the squishy looking ones. and we all know how pet’s AI goes). GW2 should have give option to put pet away while giving ranger some sort of buff to compensate for a petless play style. Why? well, why not ?.
I know someone will start " oh shut it, they stated from the beginning that pet will be the ranger’s mechanic". Well, firstly, that is bad idea to begin with, forcing people to having a pet following around and worrying about the AI. And two, why can’t it be optional. Guardian’s virtue activation is their class mechanic, but they have the option not to activate it. Sure some would call them selfish freak or bad guard, but hey, at least they have the option. Mesmer’s shatter is their class mechanic, but they can run other builds that doesn’t involve shatter. Warrior can do built that optimizes based on NOT using adrenaline. Want more? I can do it all day. So please, option to tow it a away and compensate me with …maybe 25% speed boost or something.

Anet will not remove pets from ranger. Not sure as to why, but they’ve already stated this in the CDI. Probably because they still have faith they can make pets “work” and be a real threat.

snow.8097:

i am against the petless option. I choosed the Ranger coz of this pet.
But in last time i run with my guild few dungeons and sometimes can understand why a lot of ranger want a petless option.
The current problem is that when we stow our pet and get infight the pet comes out.
No big problem, but it is a problem when we use AoE Stealth, i take Fall dmg and the pet pulls a lot of mobs.
So i think a BIG QoL change would be when the pet doesnt come out when we get Fall dmg. That would cause that Dungeon ranger have an easier time.
Thats my opinion

Did you read? it’s an option, never said anything about taking YOUR pets away from you, forcibly.

I think the major problem is that every single cleanse except for the GM trait sotf relies on pets, which kind of is a bit bs imho

Yes!!! No pet option please please please!
Or at least give us a pet raptor!!!

Well I sympathize with the sentiment as a GW1 vet, ANet has basically confirmed we are stuck with the pet.

At this point it would better, considering they are always listening to feedback, to offer up better suggested implementations of the pet as the mechanic itself and they way it is implemented is very limiting to player controlled capabilities at a base level, and actual interaction with the pet itself is extremely minimal (as opposed to a game like GW1 where you could have a whole skillbar of pet skills and abilities, and in this all we control for a selected pet is what target they attack or run away from, and when to use a single given attack).

This last patch was extremely positive for rangers in almost every way. I would count my blessings that as many changes were implemented as there were, and an entire class redesign is probably not going to be happening any time in the near future.

i’d love to have the option to go the GW1 way of choosing pets or something else…..but pets aren’t nearly as bad as their reputation.

F2 responses have improved enough to be pretty reliable, and the massive damage they add w/ improved pet traits, combined with our new buffs to personal dps (signets change/traits+weapon skill changes)…..way nicer than a few months ago.

massive AoE dmg is still the bane of pets……but i’d rather have pets have that specific weakness, than for them to undo our recent personal dps buffs.

This is especially apparent in fights where the enemy has bouncing projectiles; various bosses, mesmers, thieves, eles, etc. The pet in many regards acts as a liability which can guarantee you getting hit despite good positioning relative to your other allies.

It’s also extremely frustrating for positional requirements and counterplay for say, the thief class. Going in for a backtab off of CnD thus causing stealth often requires for pet AI to reset and position itself behind/unpredictably around the ranger. Rangers inclined to not use the pet may thus open themselves up more and have fewer freebie random body-blocks.

While I’d love a DPS/utility bonus attached to it, I don’t think one is warranted at the moment with the changes. I’d much rather see the mechanic reworked, however, to include the options for either preparations on F1-F3 with an F4 switch/use like the pet control mechanisms + virtues, or of course the ranger having the pet as a separate combat entity. Ultimately, I am a firm believer that the ranger class as a whole still needs an extensive rework, but I do not suspect ANet is on board with that.

The keyword here is “option”. No one ever said "Take those pets away for everyone !! " If you love your pet, you can keep it. Those who don’t then would get to play without it. Everyone’s preference is respected when given the option. What’s with " no petless option please! " ?? you can’t sleep at night knowing there’s other rangers out there get to play petless or something?

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

I can see the point here. Ranger pets have a a magical ability to draw all foe and upset specific builds..whoever, this can be micro managed with how you control your pet. I can see why some players may want to opt out of having a pet, but this also makes 50% of traits useless now and 40% of your utilities have no purpose.

Unless the GM trait that removed the pet made it so that any trait or effect that would be applied to your pet applied to you instead.

Solved.

That would thus not warrant a reason for the ranger to use the pet at all due to reliability issues. I’m pretty okay with the lack of utility as long as I’m compensated in DPS or some utilities get changed to accommodate it.

quaniesan.8497:

The keyword here is “option”. No one ever said "Take those pets away for everyone !! " If you love your pet, you can keep it. Those who don’t then would get to play without it. Everyone’s preference is respected when given the option. What’s with " no petless option please! " ?? you can’t sleep at night knowing there’s other rangers out there get to play petless or something?

I learned long ago they read what they want despite you clearly stating the word

OPTIONAL

So, regardless, they’ll immediately jump to the conclusion that you mean all pets removed from the Ranger despite what you actually said.

I, personally, would love to have my pet optional. The last patch there was a noticeable increase in responsiveness of the pet. It’s better than before, but still not good enough. I still want the OPTION to opt out of the pet… Just as important is full manual control over the pet, which means a keybind for the ACTIVE/PASSIVE. That is a QoL change that has been needed since I started playing a ranger over 600 days ago. I know why it hasn’t been implemented and that’s because of Devs like Jon Sharp who said that they want to keep the Ranger simple-minded so as not to scare off new players… And I fear that the F5 on the active/guard will never happen… I mean, look how much they dumb-downed the low-level areas.

If I can’t make it optional give me a trait that trades the pet for a buff, like what was talked about by the PR person who knew nothing about Rangers and obviously angered somebody higher up when she gave credence to the idea.

—Oh, and to those who say reroll because other classes play the same or similar you are so wrong that it is impossible to explain in a day how wrong you are. The only other class that comes even somewhat close is a DD or SD thief….. but the SD thief doesn’t have the same play as a SX ranger. And if you don’t know that you obviously (and painfully) haven’t played the other classes. And if you think a warrior comes close to a Ranger I want whatever it is you are smoking because it is REALLY good if you believe that rubbish.

No pet? Go a run a thief please?

Anet already said they will Not remove/make the pet a Optional ability.
so give up./

Only issue I have with optional pet is that it will be a matter of time before the same people start asking for compensation.

No, we understand you want it to be optional. We disagree that it should be an option.

Ranger is the pet profession. You made your ranger aware of this fact.

Once more if it was optional and the player was compensated with say, a 30% damage boost, then one of the two options would inevitably become superior to the other. More than likely the stowing of the pet will be the optimal choice as it removes the difficulty of dealing with the AI completely, and so will always be the better choice.

This would result in those of us who rolled the pet profession for the pet being sub-optimal players. We’d be looked down on much as bearbow players are looked down on now, but not for being bad players. For simply wanting to use the class mechanic that we signed up for when making our rangers.

“LOL scrub why u take stupid AI cheese over the straight damage buff? LOOKIT LOSER OVER HERE. LOLOLOL!”

If you don’t want a pet there are other options available. Thief if you wanted to be a fast moving burst damage dealer or warrior if you wanted to be a sturdy fighter type.

Arbitrary restriction is arbitrary.

I would like a pet-less option.

For me it would be fine if they would not appear immediatly after taking damage or changing land/water/map, just for the rp aspect.
I really want to use it WHEN I NEED IT and not have to watch for it all the time.

A bit more love for pets and their pathfinding would be nice though. Especially when they gain more speed then usual they tend to kitten around in annoying motions (even when they just have to run beside you).

You Devs want to keep the pets? Then make us love them!

Most classes can choose not to use their class mechanic.
Thieves can just steal, use the skill and cancel it if they don’t like it.
Warriors can just grab 2 GM traits that basically say “grab this if you don’t like burst skills”.
Engineers can play without turrets and/or kits.
Guardians can simply keep their virtues passive, and have traits that boost that passive effect.

I’d really like a “Lone Ranger” GM trait with “you gain 10% incoming damage reduction and 10% damage increase if you aren’t using a companion”
Too bad that’s not going to happen.

Ermmm… Why not a toggle option on the pet stow? So the pet comes out while you’re in combat and hides while you are out of it? I donno.

There’s no good reason to not have a petless option. Dismissing it by saying “rangers are a pet class” just makes you sound really shallow and dumb. I hope to see this happen as well, pets should really always be optional, since there’s much more to the Ranger class than just the pet.

I’m all for petless + compensation if the following happens:

Warrior gaining a Zen-esque style where they gain damage bonus in exchanging for not gaining adrenaline.

Guard gaining damage bonus for becoming non virtuous.

Thief gaining damage bonus for, well, quit being thief.

Engi loosing their belt, kits, and maybe their pants, for damage bonus.

Mesmer ditching clones like ranger ditching pet and gain damage bonus.

Ele mastering an attunement at the cost of other attunements and gain a damage bonus on that particular attunement.

Necro gaining damage bonus in exchange for not gaining life force.

Sarision.6347:

I’m all for petless + compensation if the following happens:

Warrior gaining a Zen-esque style where they gain damage bonus in exchanging for not gaining adrenaline.

Guard gaining damage bonus for becoming non virtuous.

Thief gaining damage bonus for, well, quit being thief.

Engi loosing their belt, kits, and maybe their pants, for damage bonus.

Mesmer ditching clones like ranger ditching pet and gain damage bonus.

Ele mastering an attunement at the cost of other attunements and gain a damage bonus on that particular attunement.

Necro gaining damage bonus in exchange for not gaining life force.

we dont want compensations, just the option to disable pet. so its a loose-loose situation. we wont get anything good out of staying petless, we just want the dam option for it.

Wyrden.4713:

we dont want compensations, just the option to disable pet. so its a loose-loose situation. we wont get anything good out of staying petless, we just want the dam option for it.

Except that most people in this thread want the compensation too.

I’m fine with perma stowing the pet. I’m not fine with people being given stat boosts for ignoring their class mechanic.

Ehecatl.9172:

Wyrden.4713:

we dont want compensations, just the option to disable pet. so its a loose-loose situation. we wont get anything good out of staying petless, we just want the dam option for it.

Except that most people in this thread want the compensation too.

I’m fine with perma stowing the pet. I’m not fine with people being given stat boosts for ignoring their class mechanic.

+1

As I said earlier, stowing does have its uses with bouncing projectiles.

With RF the way it is, a damage boost isn’t warranted. I’d really just like to see the class mechanic reworked, though (with RF being nerfed but LB being buffed through trait optimization/less dependency on MMS for just a functional weapon, Hunters shot always applying stealth, etc.). Being able to switch to pets/spirits/preparations out of combat would allow players to really define their ranger’s style and fix the scaling problems plaguing the class while also making it more lore/concept friendly and appealing, as the class is stated as being a combination of Beastmaster + Archer + Warden which were too specific to make an entire class with multiple weaponsets around any given one of them.

The problem is ANet won’t do this because they like the animals too much.

Ehecatl.9172:

Wyrden.4713:

we dont want compensations, just the option to disable pet. so its a loose-loose situation. we wont get anything good out of staying petless, we just want the dam option for it.

Except that most people in this thread want the compensation too.

I’m fine with perma stowing the pet. I’m not fine with people being given stat boosts for ignoring their class mechanic.

Other class mechanics don’t cost those classes 30% of their damage output because it’s shared/tieddirectly to an unreliable AI which is unable to dodge/ evade/ block Boss mechanics. For other classes, not using their class mechanic is optional, they can be used as needed or even not used if it gives an advantage in the situation. For rangers, there are places in the game where the use of the pet is impossible due to death by unavoidable mechanics (laser jumping anyone?) or even detrimental, but it’s use cannot be avoided.
Comparing the ranger pet to other class mechanics is short-sighted and false equivalence. Other classes mechanics don’t cause problems for the ranger or the party and other class mechanics don’t debuff the class for 30% damage output, when on cooldown.

wolfyrik.2017:

Other class mechanics don’t cost those classes 30% of their damage output because it’s shared/tieddirectly to an unreliable AI which is unable to dodge/ evade/ block Boss mechanics. For other classes, not using their class mechanic is optional, they can be used as needed or even not used if it gives an advantage in the situation. For rangers, there are places in the game where the use of the pet is impossible due to death by unavoidable mechanics (laser jumping anyone?) or even detrimental, but it’s use cannot be avoided.
Comparing the ranger pet to other class mechanics is short-sighted and false equivalence. Other classes mechanics don’t cause problems for the ranger or the party and other class mechanics don’t debuff the class for 30% damage output, when on cooldown.

Clearly you don’t play an elementalist.

Elementalists sacrifice a LOT more than rangers do for the sake of their class mechanic. They do less damage per skill, their skills have higher cooldowns, and if they are using a shorter range weapon like daggers they are stuck at that range and cannot swap to a more advantageous weapon. Such is the price for the versatility of attunements. Funny you mention cooldowns because an elementalist without 6 in arcane is running a big risk of getting stuck in an element if they aren’t extremely careful with their rotation, which can be a whole lot more fatal than a downed pet.

I’m sure there are thieves who’d love to give up the initiative system in favor of normal cooldowns. At the very least it’d mean their skills wouldn’t be under so much scrutiny because of their spammy nature. A thief can choose not to use steal but can’t play without the initiative mechanic, love it or hate it.

I’m positive there are necromancers who’d love to not rely on Deathshroud for their primary defense. Unfortunately the class is built around it, and so necromancers aren’t allowed to have the mobility that other classes enjoy because of it. A necromancer might be able to not activate Deathshroud, but they still have to suffer from the lack of mobility no matter what they choose, and failure to use Deathshroud in combat would just be a massive handicap.

I could keep going but I’m sure you get the idea. Every profession in the game is built around their class mechanic. None of them can completely ignore said mechanic and still perform optimally. And ranger isn’t the only profession who loses damage/utility/mobility in favor of balancing those mechanics.

I’m not against the ability to turn off your pet during situations where it’s disadvantageous to have the pet out, but I don’t think the ranger should get a stat boost for it. No more so than a necromancer should get super speed when not using Deathshroud or a thief should get increased damage on their skills to compensate for the spammy initiative system not being used.

We should keep focusing our attention on getting our profession mechanic improved, not trying to get it removed.

The problem is that they shouldn’t have made the pet the class mechanic. Maybe if they wanted to call it Beastmaster and give it primarily pet related abilities. As it is, it’s too pigeonholing for a class as conceptually broad as the Ranger.

Additionally, even considering that it is their class mechanic, the pet is way too emphasized in their kit. The pet should be more utilitarian; it should not comprise such a huge percentage of your damage output.

What they very clearly need to do is nerf the pet’s damage output, buff the Ranger’s damage output (where appropriate) and then give a perma-stow option that doesn’t affect anything. That way by permanently stowing the pet you’d be trading off some of its utility for extra security.

Ehecatl.9172:

No, we understand you want it to be optional. We disagree that it should be an option.

Ranger is the pet profession. You made your ranger aware of this fact.

Once more if it was optional and the player was compensated with say, a 30% damage boost, then one of the two options would inevitably become superior to the other. More than likely the stowing of the pet will be the optimal choice as it removes the difficulty of dealing with the AI completely, and so will always be the better choice.

This would result in those of us who rolled the pet profession for the pet being sub-optimal players. We’d be looked down on much as bearbow players are looked down on now, but not for being bad players. For simply wanting to use the class mechanic that we signed up for when making our rangers.

“LOL scrub why u take stupid AI cheese over the straight damage buff? LOOKIT LOSER OVER HERE. LOLOLOL!”

If you don’t want a pet there are other options available. Thief if you wanted to be a fast moving burst damage dealer or warrior if you wanted to be a sturdy fighter type.

Against having an option? this is new to me. It’s like saying "mom, i want you to tell me to go straight to bed, i hate it when you give me the option to do something else’. Why? you get to play pet if you want , why would be against other people having the option not the play the same style you do?