Guild Wars 2

been playing this class since pre nerf of sb, and though i have try many builds from glass cannons to gs builds. Yes it might be the underdog among the classes and it does shine (bright enough) if you can handle your character well enough. for instance i am now in power-vit-tough gear (less the random ascended gear stuff to survive fracts) and i started having fun with spirits which people think its paper. but believe me, just kite correctly, it proves to be a rather useful boon to both u and ur party. stop thinking that the spirit should last as long as it should, if it does its a plus if not, then treat it as a skill on cd thats all. at least it still last 10s for u to proc, something similiar to sic them. one thing that i hate is the long casting time for spirits, if in water we can cast at .5 sec, why must we take so long to cast on land?

i played full BM before and tried almost every combination possible. from full attack, full tank pets, hybrid play, utility play, support pets, combo field pets etc and its very fun. really. but it does feel lackluster in terms of traits for pets that pple usually go for that few pets (including me). And since you need to keep ur pets alive at all cost, there are just some utilities u need to have to keep rather than it being optional. if thats the case, its not really utility anymore. Thats one more reason why i played spirits because they can really help complement both u and ur pet to a certain extent.

i am not complimenting the class much as i believe it needs reworking especially when pets do really become a burden for parties. ie CoE alpha golem or as the OP said eternal flame in CoF

on separate note….u know those pets that get summon (ie inquest golems, rock dogs, drakehounds?) their ai path is terrible. sometimes it just stand there and do nothing or it just jerk jerk jerk.